


Daily Bumps

by thechongz



Series: i7 aboverse [5]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family, Fluff, M/M, Mpreg, Original Character(s), i'll add relationship tags as i go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25593196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechongz/pseuds/thechongz
Summary: a series of short (or not-so-short) stories from the i7 aboverse!! it'll generally be quite rikuio-centric, but I'll try to give each couple some screentime!the short stories can be from any point in the series, but majority of them will be set after Bumps Along the Way#1: first word (rikuio)#2: proposal (gakutenn)#3: separation (rikuio)#4: first day pt1 (rikuio, tamasou)#5: first day pt2 (rikuio, tamasou)#6: birthday (yukimomo)#7: coming out (gakutenn)#8: xmas eve (yukimomo)#9: xmas (yukimomo, rikuio, tamasou)
Relationships: Nanase Riku/Izumi Iori, Rokuya Nagi/Izumi Mitsuki, Yaotome Gaku/Kujou Ten, Yotsuba Tamaki/Ousaka Sougo, Yuki/Momo
Series: i7 aboverse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1041134
Comments: 50
Kudos: 103





	1. first word

**Author's Note:**

> for new readers/to refresh your memories of the Nanase (and Yotsuba) children, here are their chara designs! (thank you picrew you're a lifewaver)
> 
> https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsYyKTovF9kwgfBfLC5GiA2dPtJkHw?e=vNoH6F the password is: batw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9th July 2023 (slightly before the twins' first birthday)

Riku glanced at Iori, raising a brow at his mate and asking, “Why’re you pacing?” 

“It’s the first time we’re leaving them alone in the evening,” Iori huffed, brows furrowed. Akane and Aoi were seated on their bed, their eyes curiously following Iori as he walked from one end of the room to another. “We’re always home to put them to bed. It's not my fault that I’m kind of antsy.” 

“Do you want to stay home instead?” Riku suggested. He'd been looking forward to their plans this evening for a while now, but if Iori was going to be stressed out the entire time, then he’d rather scrap it and stay at home with the kids. “We can get Banri-san to get the cake.” 

“No,” Iori was quick to answer. “I didn’t even get to do much for your birthday last year. I promised that we’d go on a nice date today and not think of the twins, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It's not that I don’t trust Banri-san, either; it’s just the omega in me.” 

It was Riku’s 27th birthday, the first since the twins’ birth, and Iori was determined to make up for not doing anything the previous year. Riku’s present was wrapped neatly and already sitting in the car, and Banri was already sitting in their living room. They were going to go out for a nice dinner, watch a movie for the first time in nearly two years, and maybe do a little shopping before heading home. They also had to drop by Fonte Chocolat on the way back for cake and Riku’s presents from their parents. 

The only problem was that they’d arrive home after 10pm, and the twins were usually asleep by 8pm. For the past several months since returning to work, at least one of them would be home to put the twins to bed. They were avoiding having group schedules in the evenings until their kids were slightly older, which was admittedly difficult to plan, but they’d managed so far with Tsumugi and Banri’s help. 

Iori knew, logically, that it was fine to just miss one bedtime. That didn’t mean he had to like it. 

Still, the longer he delayed leaving the house, the later they’d get home. With a soft sigh, Iori picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking over to the bed. “Let’s go then,” Iori said, wanting to leave before he changed his mind and ruined their date night. He picked Aoi up and kissed him on the nose, eliciting excited giggles from the almost one-year-old. “Aoi-chan and Akane-chan will be okay going to sleep without papa and mama around, right? You'll listen to Banri-san?” 

Aoi blinked in response, not quite knowing how to nod yet, and Iori chuckled. “Alright then.” 

They headed downstairs together, setting the twins on their playmat in the living room. “We already prepped their milk in the fridge, so you can heat it up and feed them before bed,” Iori said. He pressed a kiss to each twin’s cheek. “They haven’t had their dinner yet though; there’s a chart in the kitchen with what they usually have. Please call us if there’s any problem, Banri-san.” 

Banri rolled his eyes and smiled at the younger. “This isn’t my first time settling their dinner, Iori-kun,” he pointed out. It was slightly amusing how much of an overprotective parent Iori was being. “Just go and have fun on your date today, alright? Akane-chan, Aoi-kun, can you wave bye-bye to mama and papa? Tell them to enjoy their evening.” 

“Ba!” Akane squealed, waving at her parents. Aoi parroted the action, and Riku pulled Iori out of the house before the omega started swooning over the cuteness of their kids. The last thing they heard before closing the door was Banri correcting Akane, telling her that it wasn’t _bye_ _,_ but _bye-bye,_ and her babbling baby speak back at him in response. 

\--- 

Iori glanced at his phone as it lit up with a notification. “What did you post?” he asked curiously. He had the notifications on for all the IDOLiSH7 members’ social media accounts, and Riku’s name was now illuminated on the screen. He raised a brow when Riku shrugged in response, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway instead of replying. “What...” 

Barely a second later, Iori was shooting his mate an incredulous look. “Really?” 

“What?” Riku asked innocently. “I’d rather not have fans coming up to us.” 

“And your solution was to announce to everyone that we’re going on a date for your birthday?” the omega questioned, though he sounded more bemused than angry. The fans already knew that they were married and mated, so it wasn’t as if there was a need to hide from them. Still, this was their first date since announcing their relationship over half a year ago – it was their first date outside since before the twins were born. 

They hadn’t gone out for Iori’s birthday, nor had they gone out for Valentine’s Day or their wedding anniversary, because Iori had been worried about leaving the twins alone for too long. Now that they were nearly a year old, Iori felt a lot better about going out for the evening and leaving them in Banri’s care. Riku wasn’t the only one looking forward to a night out with just the two of them. 

Riku shrugged again. “It’s fine, isn’t it?” 

“I don’t know... I mean, if fans do happen to see us, even if they don’t approach us, you know someone is going to secretly take photos of us and post them online,” Iori sighed. It was part and parcel of being an idol, but that didn’t mean he liked the invasion of privacy. “I’m going to spend too much time wondering if our photos are being taken.” 

“Don’t think so much about the fans and let’s just enjoy our date, okay? It's my birthday, and you said you’d do anything I ask, so now I’m asking you to focus on me and me alone,” the alpha countered with an easy smile. “Who cares if people want to take our photos? I actually think it'd be great if we manage to find candid shots online of us enjoying ourselves.” 

“Ever the optimistic one,” Iori commented with a slight roll of his eyes. “Alright, I’ll do my best. Like you said, it’s your birthday, and I have to make sure you have enough fun to make up for last year. I do wish you’d at least tell me what you planned for yourself.” 

Riku’s smile widened. “Nope. You know I don’t really care that it’s my birthday. I'm just happy to be able to go out on a date with you, plus we can even do couple-like stuff now without worrying about being found out!” he said. “I love the twins, but I do miss having you all to myself.” 

“How cheesy,” Iori chuckled, leaning against Riku’s shoulder with a contented sigh. Riku laced their fingers together with practiced ease. “I’ll just look forward to whatever you have in store for us then. It'd better be one hell of a date.” 

“Have more faith in me, Iori,” Riku chided playfully. “But I guess I could tell you where we’re headed for dinner so you can check out the menu on the way there. Can you get my phone? I have the restaurant’s website open in my internet browser somewhere.” 

Iori nodded and grabbed Riku’s phone, unlocking it with ease; his password was the twins’ birthday. It didn’t take long for Iori to locate the tab he was looking for. “Oh, I remember this restaurant,” the omega commented, looking through the menu. “Didn’t we celebrate... Gaku-san's birthday, was it? A few years back?” 

“Yeah,” Riku confirmed. “You said you liked it and wanted to go back again, after we got home. It's a little overdue, I guess, but then you got pregnant and we haven’t had time to ourselves since. I hope the menu didn’t change too much.” 

“I can’t believe you even remembered.” 

“I’m hurt. Didn't I just tell you to have more faith in me?” 

“Can you blame me? All things considered, you’re still pretty airheaded.” 

“Hey!” Riku protested with a pout. “You’re not supposed to bully the birthday boy!” 

“I’m just teasing,” Iori laughed. He leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of Riku’s mouth. “Thank you for remembering. Did you decide what you’re going to order already? The grilled fish looks pretty good. I can’t seem to find what I ordered when we went last time, though.” 

“They probably revamped the menu then,” Riku said. “I was thinking of getting steak, so we can share if you want. I guess we’re not getting dessert, right? I kind of want to have popcorn during the movie and we still have to get cake from Fonte Chocolat afterwards.” 

Iori raised a brow. “Look at you making mature decisions.” 

“Stop teasing me or I’m going to make you drive,” Riku warned, his tone equally teasing. Iori just smiled and leaned back against Riku. 

The rest of the drive was spent in relative silence, both of them relishing in the rare moment of peace and quiet. In a way, it was odd having time to themselves without having to worry about the twins. Now that the twins were getting older, though, they’d agreed to have more date nights, something that their parents had repeated on several occasions. “To keep the romance alive, otherwise your lives would only revolve around your children,” they’d said. If the couple was being honest with themselves, it was already beginning to feel like that. There was simply too little time to be alone. 

Eventually, they reached their destination. Riku found a parking lot nearby and cut the engine, getting out of his seat and telling Iori, “Stay there! I want to open your door for you!” 

Iori did as told, though he did comment, “You’re like a little kid, Riku,” once the alpha opened his door. 

“We haven’t been on a date in _forever,”_ Riku grumbled, taking Iori’s hand and locking the doors. They made their way to the restaurant slowly; there was still some time before their reservation. “And this is the first time we’re using the car to go on a date! I want it to be romantic.” 

“You’re very romantic,” Iori assured with a small chuckle. It was heartening to see that Riku hadn’t changed all that much even after several years of being together. Iori wasn’t one to feel insecure, but he was aware that he wasn’t the same as before pregnancy. It was hard to ignore the obvious stretch marks adorning his belly every time he took his shirt off, and it was even harder not to think about what Riku felt about his body now. “It’s starting to feel a little like it’s my birthday now, though.” 

“Just let me do what I want,” Riku said, grinning. Already there were eyes on them, mainly because neither of them had worn anything to disguise themselves. They were open enough with their private lives now that most people knew they were together, so they hadn’t quite seen a point. 

When they arrived at the restaurant, Riku flashed a smile at the waitress. “For Nanase Riku, please.” 

The lady didn’t bother looking at her list of reservations, instead quickly showing the couple to their seats and getting two glasses of water for them. Their orders were taken quickly, and they lapsed into an easy conversation about the first time they’d celebrated Riku’s birthday together while waiting for their food to arrive. 

\--- 

Banri handed Aoi a square block and pointed at the box. “Aoi-kun, can you find where to put this?” he asked, turning the square-shaped hole so that it was facing the baby. Aoi tried jamming it into the hole and failed spectacularly, earning a soft chuckle from Banri as he checked on what Akane was doing. 

He was met with the sight of Akane trying to push herself up into a standing position while refusing to let go of her stuffed bear. She still wasn’t very good at standing just yet, so it was virtually impossible for her to push herself up with just one hand, but that didn’t stop her from trying. “Do you need some help there, Akane-chan?” he asked. He got a rather determined huff in response. “Why don’t you let me take your bear first? I'll give it back to you after you manage to stand.” 

She stared at him for a long second before shaking her head, tightening her hold on her bear instead. Banri chuckled and nodded in understanding. “Alright, then keep at it, Akane-chan,” he encouraged. He looked back at Aoi who was still trying to stuff the block into the hole. When he tried taking the block from Aoi, he looked at Banri and loosened his grip. “Much less stubborn than your sister, huh? Put it in like this, okay? Can you try it?” 

It took a few more tries, but Aoi eventually managed to succeed. He turned to Banri with a toothy smile and the omega beamed back at him, clapping for the boy excitedly. “Good job, Aoi-kun!” he praised. 

He picked Aoi up and walked over to the kitchen, seating him down in the baby chair before going back for Akane. She was still trying her best to stand, so she got understandably annoyed when Banri abruptly brought her to her baby chair. “Da! Dadamada!” she babbled angrily. 

All it elicited was a confused raise of the brow from Banri. “Sorry, Akane-chan, but I have no idea what you’re trying to say,” he said. “I’ll let you get back to standing later, alright? First, I need to get some food into your bellies before you both start complaining that you’re hungry.” 

Akane stayed huffy while Banri prepared their dinner, at least at the start. After a few minutes, Aoi began to talk, albeit incoherently, to Akane, and they ended up conversing in baby speak that Banri could not for the life of him understand. Still, he was glad that Akane had calmed down, and he focused his attention on their food. 

Once he had the pasta and vegetables boiling, he cut up some banana and gave a bowl to each twin to occupy them for a bit. They were already capable of eating with their hands, even though it always ended up being an extremely messy affair with food ending up on the floor. With any luck, it’d only be this bad for a couple more months. 

It took Banri a little over an hour to finish feeding them both, then he left the dishes in the sink for after the twins were put to bed. “Let’s go back to the living room to watch TV,” he told them. The twins sat in front of the couch as Banri turned the TV on and flipped through the channels, eventually settling on the variety show that Iori and Tamaki had recorded a few weeks ago. “Can you recognise your mother? He's over there, beside your Uncle Tamaki.” 

Akane and Aoi stared at the screen with rapt attention, their gaze focused on Iori whenever his face came up. Banri was quick to whip his phone out and start recording the twins; he was sure that Riku and Iori watched TV with them often and got to see their reactions when they saw their parents onscreen, but he couldn’t resist it. _I can show_ _Otoharu_ _-san and_ _Tsumugi_ _-san later._

_“I have to say, it’s pretty challenging balancing work and being a parent,”_ Iori admitted with a sheepish smile. Beside him, Tamaki nodded seriously. _“It’s even harder with twins, really, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world. They might even be watching this, so I have to work hard not to let them down.”_

_“Same here,”_ Tamaki drawled in agreement. _“Souta, if you’re watching this, please start sleeping through the night soon. We know you can do it but you just don’t want to.”_

The host laughed and said, _“Tamaki-san can’t stop being a parent even now, huh?”_

Banri chuckled along with the other guests. “It’s a good thing you two are sleeping through the night already,” he commented. Akane paid him no heed, too focused on watching Iori, while Aoi got onto his hands and knees and crawled closer to the TV. Banri turned the camera to him. “Aoi-kun, don’t get so close to the TV. It's bad for your eyes.” 

Plopping back down on his butt, Aoi pointed at Iori. “Mama!” 

Banri blinked. “Can you say that again, Aoi-kun?” 

“Mama!” the boy squealed excitedly. “Mama! Mama!” 

“Y-yeah, that’s your mama,” Banri replied, eyes wide. _Oh boy._

\--- 

Iori studied his wedding ring before wiping it on the hem of his shirt. Their date had gone perfectly as planned; they’d enjoyed their dinner and movie, then gone shopping for themselves and the twins, and had just picked up Riku’s cake from Fonte Chocolat. They hadn’t stayed long, leaving right after collecting the cake and briefly greeting Riku’s parents. 

Riku glanced over at the action. “I know I’ve asked this before, but do you sometimes wish that we didn’t get married on the same day as Tamaki and Sougo-san?” he asked. 

All things considered, Iori really hadn’t had a choice when it came to the timing of their wedding. Sometimes Riku did feel guilty that they shared a wedding anniversary with their friends instead of having a day special to them, even though he _had_ been the one who’d set the wedding up in the first place. “Like, I know some people don’t like to have others piggybacking on their wedding day, but you didn’t even have a choice to say no to them.” 

Raising a brow with a slightly amused smile, Iori asked, “You know you’ve asked this before, and you’re still asking? Haven't I told you before that I’m really alright with it? It would’ve been a different matter if I’d known that, you know, that was going to be our actual wedding, and had been the one spending several months planning for it. If that’d been the case, and Tamaki-san and Sougo-san suddenly announced that they were getting married at our wedding, then naturally I would’ve been pissed off. But the fact is that it wasn’t me who’d poured months into planning it, and Tamaki-san did consult you about it, and it will still forever be one of the most memorable days of my life. Besides, it’s not like it really takes anything away from us just because our anniversary’s on the same day. Stop feeling guilty about it already, Riku.” 

Riku wrinkled his nose slightly and asked, “What do you mean _one of_ the most memorable days? You mean it wasn’t the most memorable? That hurts.” 

“Spending over half a day in labour alone and then popping two babies out was, arguably, more memorable than our surprise wedding, so,” Iori said, shrugging. “Nothing tops that.” 

“Oh yeah, there’s nothing more fun than finding out that you were in labour while filming for Friends’ Day,” Riku agreed with a chuckle. He, too, couldn’t deny that that was the most memorable day of his life. “Fine, I won’t ask about it anymore. I'm kind of curious what my birthday present is, though.” 

Iori flashed his mate a sneaky grin. “We can open it when we get home, before going back into the house. We're not that far, so just wait a little.” 

Just as Iori had said, it was only a few minutes more until they were pulling up into their driveway. Riku turned the engine off and immediately reached over to the neatly wrapped present sitting in the back of the car. He opened it quickly, tearing the wrapping paper off and tossing it aside. His eyes widened when he saw what the present was, and Riku turned to Iori excitedly. “You bought me a Switch?!” 

“You’ve been wanting one for really long now, and I wanted to get it for you last year, but the twins were on the way and it didn’t seem like a good time to get a console,” Iori shrugged, smiling when Riku put the box down before pulling him into a hug. “I’m glad you like it. You might want to open the entire thing though.” 

Riku pulled back with a raised brow. “I assumed the console was the only thing in here,” he said, but picked the package back up and tore the rest of the wrapping paper away. There were a few extra pairs of controllers as well as a whole bunch of games packed together with the console. “How much did this cost you?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous; I only paid for the console,” Iori assured. “The rest where shared between our parents and friends. The games were recommended by Tamaki-san and Gaku-san for the most part, since they’re the ones who play the most often. Tenn-niisan bought gift cards so that you can use them on new games being released.” 

“Let’s set it up over the weekend and play something together,” Riku suggested, picking everything up and unlocking the car doors. 

Iori helped to grab a few controllers, and they headed back into the house with everything in tow. 

They met Banri at the door the moment they walked in. “Oh, Banri-san, were you waiting for us?” 

The older omega smiled sheepishly at the couple. “Yes. I have some good news, some bad news, and news that could be either good or bad. It really can go both ways,” he told them. When he received tentative looks from the duo, he sighed and continued, “The bad news is that the twins haven’t gone to sleep yet. They took their bath already, though.” 

“...okay,” Riku responded. He could see the twins sitting on their playmat in front of the TV. “It’s not too late yet, so I guess that’s fine.” 

“The good news is that I recorded a video of... well, the news that could be good or bad.” 

“And what’s that?” 

Instead of replying, Banri pulled his phone out and played the video. He watched Riku’s and Iori’s faces for their reactions, wincing when their eyes widened simultaneously as Aoi repeatedly exclaimed _mama!_ while pointing at the TV. He put his phone back into his pocket when the video ended. “So... I wasn’t sure if he’s said his first word yet,” he said, though judging by how Riku and Iori were looking at him now, the answer was rather obvious. “At least I caught it on video? And there’s still Akane-chan?” 

“I can’t believe we missed his first word!” Iori said frustratedly. “He’s said it before, but it wasn’t ever directed at me, so we didn’t really count it as his official first word... I can’t believe...” 

Riku managed a smile and put an arm around Iori’s shoulders. “Aren’t you happy that his first word is mama?” he asked, though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t also slightly upset that they’d missed Aoi’s first word. 

Like Iori’d said, both Akane and Aoi had said _mama_ and _papa_ on various occasions, but because it’d never been directed towards them, they’d always just considered it as meaningless babbling. It was the first time that Aoi was intentionally saying _mama_ to refer to Iori, and they’d missed it by just a few hours. “Let’s see if we can get him to say it again, okay?” 

“This might be his birthday present to you, Riku-kun,” Banri chuckled, trying to lift the mood. It wasn’t his fault, per se, but he still felt terrible being the one to witness Aoi’s first word. It felt like he’d stolen the moment from the couple. “I’ll send the video to you guys now, then I’ll make myself scarce.” 

“Did you have dinner yet, Banri-san?” Riku asked. Banri shook his head, and the alpha frowned. “Do you want me to make something for you? It shouldn’t take too long. We could order in too, if you’d like.” 

Banri shook his head. “Otoharu-san kept some food for me and he’s waiting at home now.” 

Riku glanced at Iori, not sure if he should feel bad for wanting to chuckle at Iori’s expression. The omega looked like he was still in shock. “Then you should get back,” he said, moving out of the way so that Banri could leave. “Thanks as always, Banri-san. Have a good night.” 

“Goodnight to you two too. I’m going, Akane-chan, Aoi-kun.” 

“Ba!” 

“It’s bye-bye,” Banri corrected again with a smile, though it was Aoi who’d exclaimed the word this time round. “Sorry again, Iori-kun. I’ll see you at work.” 

Riku locked the door once Banri was out, putting down his presents on the coffee table and grinning at the twins. “We’re home!” he greeted cheerfully, plopping onto the floor between them. Akane was quick to crawl to her father, unceremoniously draping herself over Riku’s lap and giggling at herself. “Are you excited to see papa? Why aren’t you sleeping yet, anyway?” 

As expected, the only reply he got was happy, albeit completely incoherent, babbling from the baby. He glanced at Aoi as he too began crawling over, though he went straight past Riku and headed for Iori instead. He stopped at his feet, grabbed onto Iori's pant leg for support, and pulled himself up before hugging his calf and looking up. Then, beaming at Iori with the smile they’d both inherited from Riku, he exclaimed, “Mama!” 

This time, Riku couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “Do you really need to look so shocked, Iori? It's not like you didn’t know he already said it earlier,” he commented, an amused smile on his face. Iori was gaping at Aoi with wide eyes. “Praise him and come over here already.” 

That seemed to snap Iori out of his shock, and the omega bent down, setting everything down in favour of carrying Aoi. “Can you say that again, Aoi-chan?” he asked, trying to hold back the tears. He didn’t want him thinking that he’d done something wrong. “Say _mama.”_

“...mama?” 

“Yes!” Iori cooed, pride and happiness blatant in his tone. “Our Aoi-chan is so smart!” 

Riku watched the interaction with a tender smile. He looked down at Akane, who’d situated herself comfortably in his lap and was watching the TV once more. “You’re next, Akane,” he said, pressing a kiss to the baby’s head. “And do it when we’re home. Don't be like your brother!” the alpha added. “Iori, come over so that I can wipe your tears away. I know you’re about to cry.” 

Iori made a face; he hated being seen through so easily. “Yeah, yeah.” 

Luckily enough for them, they were home to witness Akane’s first word two weeks later, just a few days shy of the twins’ first birthday. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's the first chapter for Daily Bumps!! tbh I wanted to make Aoi say 'Banri' (or attempt to) instead, but it seemed weird for him to not say 'mama' first, considering the fact that Iori spends quite a lot of time with the kids
> 
> for the new readers, welcome to this Very Long Series that I started on a whim 2.5years ago! Daily Bumps will, for the most part, have standalone short stories, but I do make some references to other fics in the series, so if you guys have time, pls do check those out! (especially Bumps Along the Way) Some short stories will also be slotted in between certain chapters of the other fics, bc they're things that I wanted to write for those fics but didn't seem to fit in with the flow. I'll include a timeline of sorts for each chapter (like at which point in time it belongs to) so no worries about that!
> 
> updates will be pretty scattered for this bc I'm just taking my time with it, so it'd be good if you can subscribe so you don't miss updates! I'll attempt to update at least one chapter a month but life and writer's block can get in the way. no promises ;) comments and kudos are always appreciated~ and see you guys in the next update!


	2. proposal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> takes place between ch21 and 25 of Bumps Along the Way

Gaku sat back down and handed a cup of coffee to Tenn. “I’m not sure how good hospital coffee is, but I figured it’s better than nothing,” he said. He took a sip of his own coffee and made a face. “Ugh. I guess it’s normal that it tastes bad.” 

Tenn chuckled, shaking his head and drinking the coffee. As expected, it didn’t taste nearly as good as what he was used to, but he was familiar enough with how hospital food usually tasted. It'd only been a few minutes since Riku had taken over in the delivery room, and the rest of their friends were still on the way over. “You think things will be okay?” 

“With Iori?” Gaku asked knowingly. 

Pursing his lips, Tenn corrected, “The twins.” 

“You’re so full of it sometimes,” Gaku retorted with a slight roll of his eyes. Tenn could fool everyone else, but he wasn’t fooling Gaku at all. Over the past few months, Tenn had voiced his worries for not just his nieces or nephews, but for his brother-in-law as well. 

It wasn’t so long ago that Tenn had gone out in the middle of the night to stay with Iori while Riku borrowed their car to settle Iori’s cravings, and Tenn had gone home and told Gaku about how the pregnancy seemed to be taking quite a toll on Iori. His concern was obvious, at least to his boyfriend. His panic when he’d received Iori’s call earlier had been extremely obvious as well. “I think they’ll be just fine. All of them.” 

“I can’t believe Riku left him alone at home, seriously.” 

“You know he couldn’t possibly have cancelled his appearance on Friends’ Day.” 

“He could’ve asked us to go over.” 

Gaku rolled his eyes again. “I’m sure they just didn’t want to disturb us on our day off. It's fine anyway, so stop being hung up on it,” he said dryly. “You’re always so offended when they don’t come to you for help, but then you act nonchalant when they do. Make up your mind already.” 

Tenn shot his boyfriend a mild glare and downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp. “Just shut up.” 

The elder took no offence, too used to Tenn’s snarkiness by now. He took another sip of his coffee and contemplated throwing the rest of it away, but he was sure that Tenn would chide him if he did. He glanced up when he heard footsteps approaching them, raising a brow when he saw Re:vale with Nagi and Mitsuki hurrying over. “Yo.” 

“Don’t _yo_ me,” Mitsuki said, taking a few moments to catch his breath. “How long has it been?” 

“We probably shouldn’t be having this conversation here,” Tenn replied, glancing at the group of people looking curiously their way. Oddly enough, he and Gaku hadn’t been followed in by many people, likely because they’d been rushing Iori into the delivery room with a group of nurses. It wasn’t surprising that the four idols had attracted some attention running through the hospital. “We’ll talk in the group chat.” 

The others nodded in understanding, and Tenn quickly gave them a summary of what’d happened in the past few hours. They also updated Yamato, Ryuu, and MEZZO about the situation. Yamato's reply came quickly despite being at work, promising to rush over with Tsumugi as soon as he ended filming. All that was left for them to do after that was wait. 

It was over an hour later before the doors to the delivery room opened and a nurse came out with a bassinet. The group of idols jumped to their feet instantly, causing the nurse to jump slightly in shock at the sudden movement. It didn’t help at all that they then proceeded to crowd around her, all trying to look into the bassinet at the same time. “E-excuse me,” she said, frowning slightly at them. “While I do understand your excitement, I have to get them to the NICU to run some tests. You can come over to take a look at them once they’re settled in.” 

Mitsuki nodded in understanding and herded the others out of the way. The nurse thanked him and hurried off, and it was only after she’d disappeared down the corridor that Yuki asked, “What’s the NICU, anyway?” 

“It’s the ICU for babies,” Mitsuki said, his voice deadpan. “You didn’t know?” 

“I didn’t know either,” Momo chimed in. “But anyway, it seems like it’ll be a while till we can see them. Should we maybe go and get some food after Riku and Iori come out? I think there should be a decent restaurant nearby that we can go to. Even fast food’s fine with me.” 

Gaku perked up and nodded. “I’m starving; Tenn and I haven’t had anything except a cup of crappy hospital coffee. Let's go.” 

“I’ll just eat at the hospital canteen and hang around,” Tenn said, glancing at the delivery room. “I’m sure Riku’d feel better staying with Iori if someone’s here to check on the twins. Maybe you guys can buy something back for the both of them to eat.” 

“I’ll stay too,” Mitsuki declared. “Nagi can go and eat with you guys.” 

“How about Yuki-san and Momo-san get decent food for Riku and Iori after eating, and the four of us take turns eating at the canteen?” Gaku suggested, knowing that Mitsuki and Tenn would likely feel better knowing that there was someone watching their nieces or nephews, they hadn’t been able to see Akane and Aoi properly earlier, at all times. They trusted the hospital, of course, but the twins were still born early. There wouldn’t be anything they could do even if something was wrong, but at least they’d be able to keep each other updated. “We’ll wait for them to get out first.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement and sat back down. It was over twenty minutes later that Riku came out with Iori, and the redhead offered their friends a smile. Iori was fast asleep on the bed, one hand firmly clasping Riku’s despite that. “Is he okay?” Mitsuki asked, hurrying over to look at Iori. His hair was matted with sweat and plastered to his forehead, and it was clear that he was drained. 

“He’s fine, just really tired,” Riku assured. “Thanks for coming over and waiting here. I'm going to go with Iori to his room, clean him up and stay with him until he’s awake, so is it okay if you guys take a look at the twins first?” 

“That’s what we were planning to do,” Nagi supplied with a thumbs-up. “Let us know when he wakes up and we’ll come over.” 

“Of course I will. We’ll see you later then.” 

Riku went off with Iori, and Mitsuki turned to the others. “Nagi and I will go to the NICU first. Kujo and Yaotome haven’t eaten anything, so they should eat first, and Momo-san and Yuki-san have to drive out to find food. Does that sound good?” 

Tenn pursed his lips, ready to argue that he should get to see the twins first, but Gaku was one step ahead of him. “Yes, please,” he said quickly, well aware that Tenn would be annoyed. As expected, his boyfriend turned to frown at him. With a sigh, Gaku added, “Seriously, we haven’t had anything to eat for the entire day. The twins certainly aren’t going anywhere. We'll eat quickly and switch, alright? You can stay at the NICU for as long as we’re allowed to after we get some food.” 

“Tch. Fine, we’ll eat first,” Tenn grumbled, walking to the canteen and leaving Gaku to follow after him. 

\--- 

Later that evening, Tenn walked out of the shower to Gaku flipping through some old photo albums. He raised a questioning brow, drying his hair as he went over to sit on their bed. “What’re you up to?” 

Gaku picked up the album he was currently looking at. “After seeing the twins today, I kind of wanted to see what you and Riku were like as babies again and see which pair of twins are cuter.” 

An amused smile played at Tenn’s lips. The picture Gaku was at was of when he and Riku were about a month old, naturally dressed in matching clothes, and sleeping soundly next to each other. “And what’s your verdict?” he asked, nudging Sora slightly so that he could move closer to Gaku. When that didn’t budge their cat, the younger sighed and picked him up, placing him on his lap. “I think Akane and Aoi are the cutest babies I’ve ever seen.” 

“Really? I was going to say that about you.” 

“Your eyes must be going bad,” Tenn quipped, though his smile was now more pleased than amused. It always felt good to be complimented by his boyfriend, whether directly or indirectly. He always tried not to show it, but Gaku always saw through him anyway. “Even if you think Riku and I were cuter than Akane and Aoi, Riku’s definitely cuter than me.” 

Gaku rolled his eyes and asked, “You really want me, your boyfriend, to say that I find your younger twin brother cuter than you? Just take the compliment and be happy, brat. You know I'll always find you cuter and more handsome than everyone else.” 

Tenn stared at Gaku for a long moment. “You’re being more gross than usual. What's up?” 

Shrugging, Gaku replied, “I was just thinking that Riku and Iori have come pretty far, and they’re both younger than us. They got together before us even though we met first, and they got married and mated, and now they have kids of their own. Are they moving too quickly in their relationship, or are we just moving too slowly?” 

“Neither of us wants to give in and take the other’s family name, though,” Tenn chuckled. It was a conversation they’d gone through several times by now, and both were equally stubborn when it came to the topic of their family names. They did also consider simply keeping their family names, but that didn’t quite sit right with them either. “Did you reconsider becoming Kujo Gaku?” 

Gaku sent Tenn a look. “No. You?” 

Tenn chuckled again and shook his head. “You wish.” 

“I still don’t get why you’re so insistent on keeping the Kujo name.” 

“Kujo-san took me in and paid for Riku’s medical bills; without him, my parents would’ve gone into bankruptcy _and_ Riku might not be alive now. I guess I feel like I owe it to him, to keep the name that he gave me. I could be incentivised to think about it again, though.” 

A smirk made its way onto Gaku’s face. He set the albums aside and pulled Tenn onto his lap, causing Sora to be displaced from his spot. Pressing a kiss to Tenn’s jaw, Gaku asked, “So what kind of incentive do you want?” 

Humming, as if deep in thought, Tenn replied, “Not quite what I had in mind, but this is good too.” 

\--- 

Gaku stopped the car, leaning over to give Tenn a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll bring the car for a wash and run some errands. Let me know when you’re done with work – if the car isn’t done, then maybe you can get Anesagi to drive you home.” 

“Got it,” Tenn said, grabbing his bag. “I’ll see you tonight.” 

The younger got off the car, and Gaku watched him walk into the building before driving off. 

His first stop was, naturally, the carwash. It'd been more than twenty-four hours since Iori’s waters had broken in the car, and Gaku wasn’t sure if they’d be able to get it out completely. He explained the situation to the staff at the carwash, earning a somewhat troubled look from the man, and left after giving his number to him. 

He walked to his next destination, having gone to a carwash nearby the Kujo residence instead of the one they usually went to. He'd sent a message to Kujo Takamasa earlier in the morning to confirm that he’d be home, having something important to discuss with his boyfriend’s adopted father. 

The weight in his pocket felt heavier as he neared the Kujo home, and by the time he was at the gates, Gaku considered putting the matter off again. He didn’t get much time to think again, though, because the gates opened all of a sudden. Aya came out to greet Gaku, surprising him slightly with her presence. “I didn’t realise you were here today, Aya,” he commented, because she too had moved out over a year ago. “Long time no see. What brings you here?” 

“Hello, Gaku-san!” Aya greeted cheerfully. “Haruchan just came back from Italy yesterday and he bought a few souvenirs. I’m here to share them with Kujo-san. And you?” 

“Ah... I wanted to talk to him about something.” 

“I’ll go to my old room and give you two some privacy then,” she said, leading the way into the house. “Take a seat first. I'll go get you some water. Kujo-san's in the living room, too. Oh, and help yourself to the snacks!” 

Gaku nodded, thanking her and heading to the living room. Kujo glanced up when he heard Gaku approaching, and he offered the younger a nod in acknowledgement. “It’s good to see you again, Gaku. I hope you’ve been treating Tenn well.” 

“Of course. It's good to see you too, Kujo-san,” Gaku responded, though he never did feel comfortable around his boyfriend’s adopted father. “I’m sorry for disturbing you.” 

“It’s alright. So, what did you wish to talk to me about?” 

Aya came back with a glass of water, placing it on the table before hurrying up to her room. 

It was only when Gaku heard the door close that he took out the small box from his pocket. He set it down on the table and opened it, revealing a set of simple silver rings inside. “It’s a little old-fashioned, but I’m here to ask for Tenn’s hand in marriage,” Gaku said, meeting Kujo’s gaze levelly. “As you know, we’ve been together for about six years now, and I think it’s about time we take the next step in our relationship. I asked Tenn again, yesterday, if he would be willing to take the Yaotome name, and he declined again, so I’ve resolved to take the Kujo name instead. If that’s alright with you, I mean. These rings were passed to me by my mother; apparently it belonged to her and my father, though he gave his to her when they divorced. I had them resized already, quite a while ago, but never did get around to proposing. I still intend to propose tonight even without your blessings, Kujo-san, but I know how much Tenn respects you and I’d much prefer to marry him with your blessings.” 

Kujo considered the rings, then he looked back up at Gaku. “You know, I didn’t approve of you two being together at the start,” he said. Gaku nodded, remembering when they’d first come clean to Kujo. He had made it clear that they shouldn’t be together, but he hadn’t gone so far as to demand that they break up. “But I’ve known Tenn for half his life now, and he’s been happier in the six years he’s been with you than in the seven years before you two got together. I may not be the most fatherly figure, but I do want him to be happy. If you can do that, then I’ll give you my blessings. You've already proved that, despite being in a relationship, you can both be professional and excel as idols. I don’t see why being married would change that.” 

Eyes widening slightly, because Gaku hadn’t been expecting it to be this easy, he asked, “Really?” 

“Of course. And tell that boy that I really don’t care if he wants to keep the Kujo name or not. He doesn’t need to be so stubborn about it.” 

“Thank you, Kujo-san,” Gaku said gratefully. “That means a lot.” 

“Try some of this chocolate. And remember to bring some back for Tenn to eat as well.” 

\--- 

“Gaku-kun, what brings you here?” Rie asked, walking out from behind the counter. 

Curious customers glanced at Gaku as he entered the bakery, and Rie hurried to beckon Gaku over. She poked her head into the back briefly. “Natsuki-kun,” she called out, getting the attention of one of their bakers, “I need you to man the counter for a bit.” 

“Got it,” he replied, taking his apron off and heading outside. 

“Come in the back,” Rie told Gaku. She closed the door after he came in, pulling him to the side so they didn’t disturb the others working. “I heard you and Tenn are the ones who drove Iori-kun to the hospital yesterday. I'm glad you two were there to help him.” 

Gaku smiled. “We’re just glad we got there in time. Kaito-san isn’t around?” 

“He’s at the hospital with Yosuke-san now, visiting Iori-kun and the twins. Did Tenn come with you?” 

“Nah, he’s at work,” Gaku replied, frowning slightly. “There was something I was hoping to tell both of you in person, but I guess you’ll have to pass the message on to Kaito-san for me. I'm planning to propose to Tenn tonight.” 

Rie gasped, a hand flying to her mouth as she looked at Gaku with wide eyes. “Really? That's great!” 

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Gaku nodded. “I know he doesn’t talk to you two very often, but I thought it would still be good to let you know. If he says yes, we’ll definitely invite you to the wedding as well.” 

“Don’t be silly; of course Tenn is going to say yes,” Rie assured. She pulled Gaku into a quick hug. “I’ve always worried about Tenn since he left with Kujo-san, so it really puts me at ease to know that you’ll be looking after him from now on. Take good care of him.” 

“I’ll do my best to make him happy.” 

“That’s all a mother needs to hear,” Rie said with a smile. “I assume you won’t be staying? I'll go and pack a few things for you to bring back, so just stay here. Don't even try to refuse it!” 

Gaku could only laugh and nod in resignation, waiting patiently as Rie went back out to pick out some cakes for Gaku. She returned quickly enough, handing him a box of cakes and listing down what she’d chosen. She also made Gaku promise to update her on Tenn’s response before he left, and soon Gaku was on his way home. 

\--- 

He took the train back to their place, keeping the food he’d received in the fridge and checking on Sora for a bit. Then he looked at his phone, seeing a message from the carwash to inform him that he could pick the car up in another hour or so. He relayed the info to Tenn and headed out when he didn’t get a reply after ten minutes, deciding to just meet Tenn at the studio so that they could pick the car up together. 

Anesagi waved to Gaku as he entered the studio, nodding to the centre of the room where Tenn was posing for a photo. It was a simple magazine interview and photoshoot, so Gaku was rather surprised that Tenn wasn’t finished yet. Not wanting to disrupt Tenn’s concentration, he kept to the back of the studio, watching Tenn work and allowing himself to be mesmerised by his boyfriend. 

Still, despite his efforts to make himself inconspicuous, it was only a few minutes before Tenn glanced abruptly over in his direction. He nodded at Gaku in acknowledgement, and then returned his focus to the task at hand. Anesagi raised a brow. “I thought you didn’t tell him you were coming?” 

“I guess he picked up on my scent,” Gaku shrugged. “He has a good nose on him.” 

“Well, it seems like they’re almost done. I'll go get some drinks for you two; you wait here.” 

Gaku nodded, leaning back against the wall and waiting patiently for Tenn to finish up. 

By the time Anesagi returned, Tenn was thanking the staff for their hard work. She took over Tenn in thanking the staff members and director, handing the drinks to him and telling him to go to Gaku. The idol smiled gratefully and nodded, bowing once more before heading over to his boyfriend. 

“Good work today,” Gaku said as a greeting, taking his drink from Tenn. “I didn’t expect you to take this long though. Distracted?” 

Tenn shrugged in response. “Maybe. Anyway, why’d you come? Is the car done washing?” 

“I actually sent you a text about it, but no, it isn’t. Let’s go collect it and buy dinner on the way back.” 

“Fine,” Tenn replied with a slight playful roll of his eyes. “I guess we can ask Anesagi-san to drive us to the carwash. I’ll let her know.” 

“I went to the one nearby, so we can just walk there,” Gaku told the younger quickly. Tenn raised a questioning brow at his boyfriend, and Gaku continued, “I figured it’d be easier to go over from here if the car ended up taking too long.” 

The questioning look didn’t leave Tenn’s face; if anything, he grew more suspicious. “Is that so?” 

“Wha... why are you interrogating me?” Gaku asked incredulously. He knew, of course, that Tenn could easily tell that he was hiding something. They'd always been able to see through each other relatively easily, even though both were adept in controlling their scents. It made it rather difficult to keep surprises a secret. “Anyway, I went to the nearby carwash, so that’s that. Whatever I’m hiding, you’ll find out in a bit.” 

“Right,” Tenn conceded, biting back a chuckle. He always tried to refrain from showing too much affection towards Gaku in public, but it was hard to resist teasing the elder. “Then I’ll let Anesagi-san know that we’ll be heading out first. Help me hold my drink; I'll change quickly.” 

Gaku took the cup handed to him, and Tenn hurried to talk to Anesagi before going to the changing room. He was back in under five minutes, having opted to leave his makeup on. “Alright, let’s go,” Tenn said. He couldn’t help the smile that made its way onto his face when Gaku grabbed his bag from him, keeping a nonchalant expression on his face, and slung it over his shoulder. 

\--- 

Tenn glanced at Gaku as he drove. “Are you going to tell me what you’re hiding?” 

“I’ll tell you after we get home,” Gaku said, trying to conceal his nervousness as best as he could. “Why so impatient? You're usually fine with me keeping a secret or two.” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this nervous before, so,” Tenn explained, shrugging. “But alright, I can wait for a little longer. Do you think we can drop by the hospital for a bit to see the twins?” 

Gaku rolled his eyes and shook his head. “It’s late and they need to rest. Besides, didn’t you already talk to Anesagi and get our interview tomorrow moved to the evening? How attached are you to them?” 

“They’re adorable. You can’t blame me for liking them.” 

“Is that so...” Gaku laughed. “But like I said, we should let them rest for the evening and go over tomorrow morning.” 

Tenn made a face, but he nodded nonetheless. “Yeah, yeah. Can I eat my donburi?” 

“I just washed the car though?” 

“Come on; I’m starving,” Tenn tried again. He mustered his best puppy eyes, and Gaku made the mistake of sparing the younger a glance. He gave in with a nod. Tenn grinned, immediately opening the takeaway container and starting on his dinner. He took a few bites as Gaku drove, waiting until they stopped at a traffic light before holding a spoonful of rice in front of Gaku. “Have some.” 

He continued offering Gaku bites of his food every now and then, and the entire bowl was gone by the time they pulled up in their driveway. Tenn stared at the empty bowl in mild dismay as Gaku turned the engine off. “I shouldn’t have given you so much,” he commented regretfully. “I’m still hungry.” 

“Relax, I’ll share mine with you too,” Gaku laughed, unlocking the doors and getting out. 

They continued their dinner on the couch, and this time it was Gaku who fed Tenn bites of his food. The second bowl of donburi was finished in no time, too. “I’ll clean up,” Tenn offered. 

Gaku nodded thankfully – not because he didn’t want to wash the empty containers and dispose of them, but because he needed some time to work up his nerve. The ring box in his pocket had been feeling heavier and heavier as the day went on, and now the alpha thought it might burn a hole through his pocket. _Oh, god, what if Tenn says no?_

He didn’t get much time to work himself into a panic, though; barely two minutes later, Tenn’s voice rang out from the kitchen. “Gaku, what’s with all the desserts and snacks in the fridge?” 

The elder froze, weighing his options. He could lie and try to stall for time, but then he’d have to come up with a plausible explanation for the unusual amount of cakes and Italian snacks that hadn’t been there when Tenn’d left earlier. 

When Tenn cocked a brow at him, Gaku threw caution to the wind. He stood up, displacing Sora from his lap, and walked over to the kitchen. “I went to see Kujo-san,” he replied honestly. All that served to do was confuse Tenn even further. “I also went to Fonte Chocolat. The branch run by your parents.” 

The second statement was what caused realisation to flash across Tenn’s face, even if only briefly. He schooled his expression quickly enough and asked, “Is that so?” 

“We’ve been together for six years-” 

Tenn’s lips quirked up slightly. “I’m aware.” 

“-and I’ve been thinking a lot, lately,” Gaku continued, his hand fidgeting by his side. “Especially since Riku and Iori, you know, told us that they were expecting. I don’t really care about the family name thing anymore; if you want me to become a Kujo, then I’ll do it. So...” he trailed off, getting down on one knee. He pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it. “Tenn, will you marry me?” 

Even though Tenn had been half-expecting this, he couldn’t quite help being overcome with emotion. He felt his eyes become wet with tears and, managing a shaky smile, nodded in response. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you, idiot,” he said, holding his hand out. “What’re you waiting for?” 

Tenn didn’t think he’d ever seen Gaku smile as wide as he was smiling now. He took out the smaller ring and slipped it onto Tenn’s ring finger, then he got up and pulled the younger into a tight embrace. “I love you, Tenn. I can’t wait to marry you.” 

Smiling, Tenn nodded. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad to be a Yaotome.” 

Gaku pulled back abruptly, his eyes wide in shock. “Are you serious? I thought you...” 

“I said it yesterday, didn’t I?” Tenn asked, laughing when Gaku wiped his unshed tears away. “That I could be incentivised to rethink my decision. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll never turn down sex with you, but I was thinking that if you could give in and make the first move, then I would give in.” 

Impossibly, Gaku’s smile widened. “God, I love you so much.” 

“I love you too,” Tenn replied, his own smile widening when Gaku kissed him. He returned the kiss with an equal amount of fervour, moaning softly when Gaku’s tongue ran over his bottom lip. He was more than happy to part his lips and allow Gaku access to the inside of his mouth. They broke apart only to catch their breath before reconnecting their lips. 

When they finally pulled away, Tenn rested his head against Gaku’s shoulder. “I want to continue this in the bedroom, but I just have one question,” he said. Gaku hummed, waiting for him to continue. “When did you get a ring?” 

“It’s been in the Yamamura family for a few generations. My parents had it but, you know.” 

“And you’re not worried the same will happen to us?” Tenn asked teasingly. He let out a surprised yelp when Gaku suddenly swept him into his arms, his arms instinctively reaching up to hold onto Gaku. “I was just kidding!” 

“Oh, I know,” Gaku said matter-of-factly. He leaned in to Tenn’s ear, and when he spoke, a shudder ran down the younger’s spine. “I just want to show you why I know we won’t end up like them. Actions speak louder than words, right?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was actually gonna up this on i7 anniv but it was Gaku's bday yst so, like, why not right HAHA. happy belated birthday sobaman!!!!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed and see you again in a couple weeks~! Kudos and comments are always appreciated as usual!


	3. separation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mid-Nov 2022

“I have to say, I’m a little worried...” 

_“What?”_ Nagi feigned an offended gasp. “How could you say that, Mitsuki?” 

The beta stared blankly at his husband. “Nagi. Nagi, I love you, but you freaked out and almost cried when Akane spit up on you,” he reminded, arms crossed. “I mean, granted, it was on one of your Kokona shirts, but still.” 

“That was in the past!” 

“Nagi, it was two weeks ago.” 

“W-well, he just has to manage until Tsunashi-san gets here,” Riku pointed out with a sheepish smile. “It should take him less than an hour, right? I'm sure Nagi can handle the twins alone for that long.” 

_“Yes!_ Mitsuki, why don’t you have faith in your own husband?” Nagi asked. The unimpressed expression on Mitsuki’s face didn’t change. “I’ll be fine! Look at how fascinated Akane is by my hair! I'm sure I can distract them for an hour.” 

Iori’s expression mirrored his brother’s. He held Aoi in his arms, the four-month-old sleeping soundly despite the slight commotion his uncle was causing. “Somehow, that doesn’t sound convincing. But unfortunately, we don’t have time to wait for Tsunashi-san to get here, so we have no choice but to trust you.” 

“That wounds my feelings, Iori,” Nagi responded sadly, heaving a sigh. The smile returned to his face when Akane reached up to grab at his hair, being fascinated with it every time she saw Nagi. Aoi liked Nagi too, but he was more amused by Nagi’s accent than the colouring of his hair. “Seriously, I’ll be fine with the twins.” 

Mitsuki gave in and burst into laughter. “We know,” he said, pinching Nagi’s cheek lightly. The alpha scrunched his face up, eliciting a small giggle from the baby in his arms. “You’re the best and most reliable uncle, right? Apart from me, of course.” 

Riku snorted. “Don’t let Tenn-nii hear that,” he commented. “I guess we should get going if we don’t want to be late. You're going to have to put Aoi down, Iori. Unless you’re planning on bringing him to the radio show with you.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Iori sighed. He bent down carefully and pressed a light kiss to Aoi’s cheek, wary of waking his son up, before placing him on the mat. Then he went over to Akane and did the same for her, returning Akane’s smile with one of his own. “You’re sure you’ll be fine, Nagi-san?” 

“Leave them to me,” Nagi assured. “Go to work, Iori; you’ll probably need some time to warm up after not being on any shows for the past year.” 

“It’s only been eleven months,” the omega corrected. He watched his mate give each baby a kiss as well before grabbing his stuff and getting up. Sighing again, Iori reluctantly got up as well. He didn’t want to leave the twins alone, hadn’t had to leave them alone at all the past four months, but he also had to get back to work. Riku had been working hard enough the past year. “We’ll see you in a few hours, then.” 

“I can’t tell if you’re saying that to me or the twins,” Nagi joked. He knew fully well that Iori was talking to the twins, and he didn’t blame the omega for being hesitant to go; Iori had been the primary caretaker of the twins since they were born. The longest he’d been away from them was whenever he went to shower. “I’ll take good care of them, so stop procrastinating already. You're going to be late if you keep staying here. _Mummy, daddy, good luck at work! Uncle Mitsuki, too!”_

Mitsuki rolled his eyes as he laughed. “That was the worst imitation of a baby’s voice I’ve ever heard,” he said, giving Nagi a quick kiss on the cheek too. “Good luck with the twins. Don't hesitate to send any of us a text if you need help.” 

“Okay, just go already.” 

“Nagi’s right, we should go before we’re late. Come on.” 

\--- 

Riku got off the car and shut the door, walking over to the front passenger seat and waiting for Iori to roll the window down. “If I’m not done by the time you guys leave, just go back without me,” Riku said, because his schedule was at a completely different studio. “I can take the train.” 

Iori frowned slightly. “There’s no need to do that.” 

“Yes, there is,” Riku replied simply. “You’re already missing the twins, I can tell, so just get back to them asap. I don’t want you to be distressed from being away from them for too long. You don’t have to worry about me.” 

“You heard him,” Mitsuki said. “Bye, Riku. I hope your interview doesn’t take too long.” 

Riku smiled and waved as the brothers drove off. Iori returned the gesture, looking at his alpha until he entered the building before turning back to look at the road. Mitsuki glanced at Iori, noting the worried expression that hadn’t left his face since they walked out of the house. “Relax, Iori. The twins are going to be just fine with Nagi.” 

“It’s not that I don’t trust Nagi-san,” Iori said. “I’m just worried that they won’t be used to not having me around all of a sudden. Riku can calm them down easily enough, but Nagi-san might have some difficulty dealing with any outbursts...” 

“Seriously, have more faith in Nagi,” Mitsuki chided gently. He understood that Iori was just worried about being away for the twins for a few hours, but he couldn’t help being slightly offended on his husband’s behalf. While he _had_ poked fun at Nagi earlier, he’d only been joking. Iori was evidently genuinely worried that Nagi wouldn’t be able to handle the twins on his own for less than an hour. “I get that you’re just uneasy, but if you keep doubting Nagi, even I’ll get angry. You're my little brother, but he’s my husband.” 

Iori made a face. With how reliant he’d been on people’s scents to identify subtle changes in their mood, he hadn’t noticed Mitsuki’s growing annoyance. “Sorry, nii-san. I didn’t mean to.” 

“As long as you stop, it’s fine,” the beta said. “Anyway, about today’s schedule. I haven’t seen the script just yet, but I know the producers came up with a short list of questions for me to ask you. I’m assuming they’re all about the twins and what you’ve done throughout your pregnancy. There'll probably be some slightly invasive questions, so if there’s anything that you don’t feel comfortable answering, just tap me on the thigh or something, alright?” 

“Yeah, okay. I haven’t been this nervous in a long time.” 

“You’re going to do fine. The staff were all pretty excited to work with you again.” 

“Then I’ll have to do my best not to let them down, huh?” 

\--- 

Nagi pointed at the screen excitedly, keeping his other hand around Akane. “Look, Akane! Kokona just transformed into a magical girl for the first time!” he exclaimed. They were watching the first ever episode of MagiKona, brought over by none other than Nagi himself. 

Aoi was, surprisingly enough, still fast asleep despite Nagi’s volume, and Akane was looking at the TV with unexpected focus. Nagi knew, logically, that she was simply drawn to the bright colours and upbeat soundtracks, but he’d much rather think that she was starting her career as a MagiKona fan early. He just needed to be discreet enough that Mitsuki wouldn’t pick up on it until there was no turning back. 

They got through the first episode and were halfway through the second when the doorbell rang, and Nagi paused the TV before heading to the door with Akane still in his arms. He opened the door quickly and let Ryuu in, not wanting to leave Aoi alone for too long because he’d woken up by then. Ryuu held up a bag of takeaway food with a smile. “Hi, Nagi-kun and Akane-chan. I brought food.” 

“It smells delicious!” Nagi said, noting how Akane was staring at the bag curiously. “Sorry, Akane, but you and Aoi are way too young to be eating food like us. I’ll prepare your milk later, alright?” 

Ryuu went to the living room and set the food down. “Hello to you, Aoi-kun!” Ryuu greeted, smiling brightly at the baby. He was greeted with a yawn in response. “Did you just wake up from a nap? You weren’t watching the TV with nee-chan and Uncle Nagi? And... Nagi-kun, you’re watching MagiKona?” 

Nagi grinned and nodded. _“Yes!_ I’m starting them early!” 

The elder stifled a chuckle. “And you’re not letting the others know?” 

“I will! Just not for the time being!” Nagi explained, resuming the show. He settled back down on the floor as Ryuu picked Aoi up and made faces at him, effectively waking him up by causing him to giggle. “I know Mitsuki won’t be too happy if they become as big a Kokona fan as me, but I can’t help it! It's my responsibility as their uncle and as a fan of Kokona’s to spread the love!” 

Ryuu looked at the blond in amusement. “I’d say you’re off to a good start,” he commented, noting the look on Akane’s face. He looked back down at Aoi. “With Akane-chan, at least. Aoi-kun seems like he couldn’t care less.” 

“Nonsense! He just needs to start from episode one again!” 

“I think Mitsuki-kun's radio is about to start, though,” Ryuu pointed out. 

Nagi looked at the clock in mild surprise, not having noticed the time at all. He quickly held Akane out to Ryuu and said, “Take Akane while I get the laptop! Mitsuki will be mad if he knows I watched Kokona with them, but he and Iori will kill me if we miss the radio broadcast!” 

Ryuu laughed, taking Akane with relative ease and sitting her on his other lap – handling babies was nothing new to him since he’d helped out with his younger brothers a lot in the past, though it was admittedly different with two babies to deal with at once. “Could you maybe get some cutlery for our food as well?” 

“Roger!” Nagi offered Ryuu a mock salute. He hurried to grab his laptop from the dining table and turned it on, finding the broadcast with relative ease because he had it bookmarked, and turned up the volume before setting it on the floor. 

There were still a few minutes before the broadcast went live, so Nagi went to get chopsticks and bowls from the kitchen. He portioned out their dinner, checked the time, and made a last-minute decision to prepare milk for the twins as well. He somehow made it back to the living room before the broadcast started. “Dinner is served!” he announced, two freshly prepared bottles of milk in hand. “Would the esteemed Lady Akane and Sir Aoi like to eat now or later?” 

“It’d probably be good to feed them before they fuss,” Ryuu said, trading Akane back in exchange for a bottle of milk. It'd been quite some time since he’d last fed a baby, but it wasn’t hard to recall how he’d used to help his father out with his younger brothers. 

Aoi took the teat into his mouth eagerly, happy to have his milk, and Akane was quick to do the same. 

It was less than two minutes later that Mitsuki’s voice, animated as always, filled the living room. _“Good evening everyone! Welcome again to Mitsuki’s Crescent Night Radio! I'm your host, IDOLiSH7’s Izumi Mitsuki, and I have a special guest with me today.”_

_“Good evening. This is IDOLiSH7’s Izumi, or_ _Nanase_ _if you’d prefer, Iori.”_

Ryuu glanced at Nagi briefly. “Does that bother you, Nagi-kun?” 

The blond raised a questioning brow. “What?” 

“Being the only couple in IDOLiSH7 that still has to hide your relationship from the fans.” 

“Oh, that. Not really, I suppose,” Nagi replied with a slight shrug. “We want to let Riku and Iori hold their press conference regarding the twins first before we make any announcements about our relationship. I mean, not many people know that I’m a prince, so we’d have to properly explain that as well. The fans probably still have many questions about Tamaki and Sougo, too.” 

“That sounds tough,” Ryuu commented. “We’re always happy to help out wherever we can.” 

“We’ll keep that in mind when we figure out what we’re going to do,” Nagi replied gratefully. He nodded to the laptop which had been ignored. “Let’s listen to the radio.” 

_“-ions here from the producers for you. Of course, I know most of the answers to these questions, but I’m sure most of our listeners are curious about what you’ve been up to during your absence.”_

_“I understand. I'm ready whenever you are, nii-san.”_

_“First question! As you and Riku have announced in late July, you’re now the parents to a pair of twins. What was your first thought when you found out that you were expecting and how has your life changed since the twins were born?”_

_“I guess my first thought was something along the lines of: wait, what? We also didn’t find out that I was expecting twins until after the infamous Christmas live incident, so that was another surprise. As for how my life has changed... honestly, I wasn’t getting much sleep towards the second half of my pregnancy, so I thought I’d be able to cope with the sleepless nights. It's been four months and I can safely say that I’m much more tired now than when I was pregnant.”_

Mitsuki laughed at Iori’s tone. _“If any of our listeners have advice for Iori and Riku, please leave a comment on our homepage! Alright, moving on to the next question. How did you decide on the names Akane and Aoi? Was it just based on you and Riku’s hair colours?”_

_“We wanted names that were related somewhat, and_ _Nanase_ _-san... ah, I guess I should also be calling him Riku-san in public now,”_ Iori corrected sheepishly. _“Riku-san was reading off a list of names and the twins responded only to the names Akane and Aoi. It wasn’t a hard decision to make from there.”_

_“I personally think they’re great names. But I'm also their uncle and extremely biased. Next! This might be a little personal, but here I go; according to your post, the twins were born just slightly after the Friends’ Day broadcast. For those of our listeners who may not be aware, Riku was at Friends’ Day with me and Nagi. Did you get to the hospital on your own?”_

_“I actually had to call TRIGGER’s_ _Kujo_ _-san for help,”_ Iori admitted with a chuckle. _“Luckily for me, he and Yaotome-san were free that afternoon and don’t live too far from Riku-san and me. They got me to the hospital pretty quickly. Kujo-san even had to stay in the room with me before Riku-san arrived.”_

_“Wow. I wasn’t expecting you to answer that question so honestly, Iori,”_ Mitsuki said, sounding surprised. Ryuu and Nagi were equally surprised. _“Oh, it seems like we’re getting a call. This doesn’t usually happen before the call-in segment, but the producers are insisting that I take the call. Good evening! Thank you for calling in to Mitsuki’s Crescent Night Radio. Who am I speaking to?”_

_“Good evening, Mitsuki-san. This is TRIGGER’s Kujo, soon to be Yaotome, Tenn.”_

Ryuu and Nagi exchanged incredulous looks; they could tell what this was about. “Oh, Tenn...” 

_“What a surprise! We haven’t had a chance to invite you recently, but congratulations on your engagement to Yaotome! To what do we owe this call?”_

_“Thank you. I'm_ _actually calling_ _because I was listening to Iori-san and I couldn’t help but notice that he was still referring to me as ‘Kujo-san’. Why’s that?”_

_“...because you’re keeping your stage name as_ _Kujo_ _Tenn_ _, are you not? I will also still be introducing myself as Izumi Iori on shows.”_

_“Yes, I am. I don’t mind if other people continue referring to me as_ _Kujo_ _, either. Mitsuki-san is free to keep doing so. But what was it that you started calling me after the twins were born?”_

_“I’m not calling you by that while we’re at work, Kujo-san.”_

_“Just Tenn, then.”_

_“Alright, fine, Tenn-san. Is that good enough?”_

_“Perfect. I'll get back to work now; sorry for calling out of the blue.”_

“Kujo-shi is really particular about how Iori addresses him, huh,” Nagi commented after Tenn hung up, and the Izumi brothers returned to the list of questions. 

Ryuu chuckled. “Yeah, but I didn’t think he’d just call in like this.” 

“It kind of goes against his professionalism, doesn’t it?” 

“It does,” the elder agreed, “but I guess he threw some of that out the window when he got together with Gaku anyway. And probably a little more when they announced to the whole world that they were getting married.” 

“The fans are loving it, though,” Nagi said, putting Akane’s now-empty bottle on the floor and scrolling through the comment section. The influx of comments hadn’t stopped since the radio broadcast started, and they’d only increased with Tenn’s abrupt call. Most of the comments now were speculating how Iori referred to Tenn outside of work – it was no secret that the two were brothers-in-law. “A few people are actually guessing it right.” 

“Iori-kun would hate for people to find out, huh?” Ryuu questioned, sounding amused. “Your mama wouldn’t want the fans to know that he calls your uncle ‘Tenn-niisan', would he, Aoi-kun?” 

\--- 

“What the heck was that?” 

_“What was what?”_

“You know what I’m talking about.” 

_“Oh, getting my brother-in-law to call me by name? What's wrong with that?”_

“Maybe I should just go back to calling you Kujo-san, even after you’re married.” 

Tenn laughed. _“You know you won’t do that. It's the least you have to do after making me sit with you in the delivery room for however long it took Riku to get there.”_

“He’s right,” Mitsuki cut in. “Just give up and stop calling him Kujo, and hang up so you can call Riku and see if he’s done with work. I need to know if we need to pick him up. Bye, Kujo.” 

“Goodbye, Tenn-niisan.” 

_“Bye. I'll come by over the weekend.”_

Iori sighed as he ended the call, lips pursed, and Mitsuki snickered. “Do you miss the times when you and Kujo hated each other’s guts?” the beta asked. The Tenn of the past would never have done something as ridiculous as call in to Mitsuki’s radio just to get Iori to stop referring to him as ‘Kujo-san'. 

“A little,” Iori shrugged, “but I guess it isn’t too bad the way it is currently. I'll call Riku now.” 

The omega dialled his mate’s number, holding his phone up to his ear instead of putting the call on speaker like he’d done for Tenn. It didn’t take Riku long at all to pick up, as good a sign as any that he was done with his work as well. “Hey, we just left the studio a few minutes ago. Have things wrapped up on your end?” 

_“We actually finished pretty quickly today. I've been loitering outside the building for the past fifteen minutes or so,”_ Riku replied, immediately eliciting a frown from Iori. 

“Why don’t you wait in the building?” 

_“Nah, I didn’t want to make the receptionist wait to lock up just because of me. I went to get a warm drink from the convenience store but there weren’t any empty seats, so_ _I just_ _came back out.”_

“You’re going to fall sick,” Iori said, his voice deadpan. “Just find somewhere warm and wait there. We'll be there in five minutes, maybe less.” 

_“I’m not going to get an attack,”_ Riku assured. _“I’ll be waiting!”_

Riku hung up before Iori could reply, and the omega stared blankly at his phone. “You may not get an attack, but you can still catch a cold, idiot,” Iori muttered, pocketing the phone. “Can you drive a little faster, nii-san? It seems like Riku’s being reckless and waiting outdoors even though it’s already late November. It'll be troublesome if I have to take care of a sick Riku and two babies.” 

“Yes, yes. It's good that you aren’t still obsessing over being away from the twins,” the beta commented. Iori hadn’t said anything that implied he was still worried that Nagi wouldn’t be able to handle the twins, though the fact that Ryuu was there might be why. “Did you finally get used to being away from them for a bit?” 

“It does feel good to be away from them for just a while,” Iori admitted. “I mean, I love them, but it does get tiring spending all my time entertaining them, making sure they’re clean and fed and happy. And when they’re asleep, I have to wash all their dirty clothes and do the chores. It's unbelievable how many clothes we go through a day.” 

Mitsuki chuckled and nodded in understanding. “It’s great to have you back, too. Takes some of the workload off the rest of us, especially the interviews and guest appearances. Oh, is that Riku?” 

Iori looked at the figure in the distance, able to recognise his mate with ease. Mitsuki came to a stop in front of the alpha and unlocked the doors, grinning at Riku from the rear-view mirror. “Good work today, Riku. How was the photoshoot?” 

“The photographer was really easy to work with, so we finished much quicker than expected,” Riku replied. He handed a meat bun to both Mitsuki and Iori. “I bought these at the convenience store earlier; figured you guys might be hungry. I didn’t buy any drinks though.” 

“It’s fine,” Mitsuki said, taking a bite out of his meat bun. “Thanks, Riku.” 

“Also, I was listening to the radio between shots,” Riku continued offhandedly, “and I happened to hear Tenn-nii's call. Do you want me to talk to him and ask him not to do that anymore? I'm sure I can get him to stop.” 

“You heard that part, huh? It's fine, I already called him to complain,” Iori grumbled. “Not that it helped at all, so I’ll be referring to him by name on shows from now on. I still can’t believe he called while he was working just because of that.” 

“I mean, he did spend the past few years trying to get you to call him by name.” 

“That doesn’t make it any less ridiculous.” 

“Yeah, but there’s no point in being so annoyed with him now,” Riku chuckled, trying to appease his disgruntled omega. He could tell that Iori was more embarrassed than he was angry; he’d wanted to keep things between him and Tenn as they’d always been when they were in the public eye. “You’ll get used to it soon enough. Besides, the fans seemed really excited to hear you guys getting along.” 

“Ugh, tell me about it,” Mitsuki chimed in. “I couldn’t even keep up with the comments.” 

Still making a face, Iori sighed. “I’m still annoyed, but it’s nothing I can’t live with. Let’s just hurry home so I can see the twins. They're probably the only ones who can distract me now.” 

Mitsuki bit back a chuckle, instead nodding in understanding and going just a bit faster. 

\--- 

By the time the three arrived back at the Nanase home, Nagi and Ryuu had given the twins their bath and put them to sleep. The blond met them at the door, greeting his husband with a chaste kiss on the lips. “Welcome back.” 

“Welcome back,” Ryuu echoed. “You did a great job on your first day back at work, Iori-kun.” 

“Thank you,” Iori replied with a smile. “Ah, the twins are sleeping already?” 

“I’m afraid so. They were both awake during the broadcast, though!” Ryuu added when he saw Iori’s face fall slightly. He almost felt bad that he and Nagi had put the twins to bed already, even though it’d been past their usual bedtime by then. “We took some photos, too.” 

The smile returned to Iori’s face. “I’ll be waiting for those photos then,” he said, glancing at the baby monitor. “I think I’ll just go up and check in on them for a bit. Thank you both again for taking the time to help look after them.” 

Nagi waved Iori’s thanks off. “It’s no problem. I didn’t get spit up on today, so all’s good!” 

Laughing, Iori shook his head and went up to the nursery. “We’ll get going, then,” Mitsuki said. Nagi hurried to grab his belongings, and Ryuu joined the couple by the door as well. 

Riku walked them to the gates, waving as they drove away, and then went back in to find Iori. The omega had come back down from the nursery and was putting away the twins’ toys and playmat. “I’ll keep those,” Riku said, taking said items from his mate. “You go shower first.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah,” the alpha confirmed. “Also, you really don’t have to be so bothered by what Tenn-nii did. He did say that everyone else can still refer to him as a Kujo, but you know Yaotome-san won’t be too okay with that. Tenn-nii was just teasing.” 

Iori sighed. “I know, I know. It's just that I was kind of taken aback, I guess. I wasn’t really expecting to suddenly have to call him by name today; I was hoping to at least stall until after they register their marriage.” 

“That’s next week though, so,” Riku said, shrugging. “Alright, go shower and take your mind off it. I'll make warm milk with honey for you to drink when you’re out!” 

“That’d be great,” Iori responded with a grateful smile. His smile widened slightly when Riku leaned in to press a kiss on his cheek, and he returned the gesture before hurrying upstairs to shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY ANNIVERSARY I7 and here's to many more years of throwing money <3 Mikki came in my discounted paid roll~ now I just have to wait for Riku's pickup and hope he comes orz. It'd be nice if Iori can come too but I'm too poor rn to throw money for his pickup....
> 
> Anyway, another update just to celebrate~! Mikki and Nagi get (just a little) attention in the special anniv story so definitely check it out!! (it's unvoiced as usual though so might be difficult if you can't read Japanese ;;) Mikki is a protective boy and will not stand for his husband being insulted, even jokingly and even by Iori. Also Ryuu gets a little screentime here bc I really need to give him more love oops. Also Tenn can be an ass and all professionalism was thrown out the window after his and Gaku's wedding announcement
> 
> NEXT UPDATE WILL FOR REAL be in a few weeks, maybe I'll put it up on Banri's bday? idk but anw hope yall enjoyed this and good luck for your anniv card rolls!! may rngesus be with you!!!!!!!


	4. first day (pt1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1st Apr 2026

Sougo raised a brow when the doorbell rang. “I wonder who that is,” he said, glancing over at Tamaki. 

The alpha got off their bed and went to look out the window, immediately making a face when he saw the car parked outside their house. “It’s papa,” he replied. 

“Grandpa’s here?” 

Sougo's expression soon mirrored Tamaki’s, a small frown making its way onto his face. He quickly schooled his expression back into a smile. Then he buttoned up Souta’s shirt and looked his son over, smiling at the three-year-old. “It seems so,” he said, getting up and taking Souta’s hand. “Should we go down and meet him?” 

Nodding, because his grandfather always bought him things when he visited, Souta said, “Yes!” 

“I’ll bring Souta’s bag down later,” Tamaki said, still dressed in a bathrobe. “Don’t keep him waiting.” 

“Taa-kun’s too slow,” Souta commented, giggling when Tamaki stuck his tongue out at his son. He looked back at his mother, tugging on his hand excitedly. “Mama, let’s go down! I want to see what grandpa brought!” 

“He doesn’t have to bring something for you every time, Souta-kun,” Sougo chuckled. They didn’t mind Soushi visiting, per se – what they minded was the fact that he bought toys or snacks for Souta every single time, and Souta knew that fact well. He was spoiling the boy far too much. “You can’t be happy to see him only because of what he gives you.” 

Souta pouted at that. “But he does,” he huffed. 

Sougo couldn’t help chuckling again; Souta had inherited most of Tamaki’s mannerisms, from the way he complained to his tendency to give nicknames to those around him. Sougo supposed he could only blame himself for the fact that Souta referred to Tamaki as _Taa-kun_ _,_ though, and it certainly hadn’t helped that Tamaki didn’t discourage it in any way. Souta _had_ started off calling Tamaki _papa,_ like Akane and Aoi, but he’d heard Sougo say _Taa-kun_ one too many times and picked up on it. 

He’d also wanted to call Sougo _Souchan_ _,_ long before he caught onto _Taa-kun_ _,_ but Tamaki had been quite against that. “Only I get to call him Souchan,” Tamaki had told the then-eighteen-month-old. “You have to call him mama.” 

“Remember, Souta-kun: you can’t refer to your father as _Taa-kun_ in school, okay?” Sougo reminded for the nth time. The last thing they wanted was for people to find out that Sougo called Tamaki _Taa-kun_ at home. The omega would probably die of embarrassment. “You can only call him that at home.” 

“I know, mama,” Souta sighed dramatically, yet another trait he’d picked up from Tamaki. “I got it.” 

When they got to the ground floor, Soushi was already waiting for them. Mirei was there too, though it wasn’t too surprising. She visited rather often even without Soushi. “Grandma’s here too!” Souta exclaimed excitedly, letting go of Sougo’s hand to run over. “Good morning!” 

“Good morning, Souta-chan,” Mirei greeted with a warm smile, bending down so she could pull her grandson into a hug. “Are you excited for the first day of kindergarten?” 

Souta nodded excitedly in response. “I want to play with Kanecchi and Oichan!” 

“You might not be in the same class as them,” Sougo said. 

Frowning, Soushi countered, “Of course he can be in the same class as them if he wants to.” 

“Dad, please, he needs to make friends with the other kids,” Sougo sighed, exasperated. It was hardly the first time they were having this conversation, too; Soushi had suggested, multiple times, that he could just pay the kindergarten to ensure that the twins and Souta were in the same class throughout their years in kindergarten. 

Sougo appreciated the sentiment, but they didn’t want Souta to stick to the twins all the time. Riku and Iori had also mentioned wanting the twins to be in different classes – Riku knew what it was like being in the same class with his twin, though he didn’t have much of a choice because Tenn watched out for his health, and they agreed that it’d be better for the twins to be less reliant on each other. Aoi already hid behind Akane and looked to her for help when they were around strangers, being the shyer of the two. 

Looking up at his grandfather, Souta asked, “Grandpa, present?” 

“Of course,” Soushi said matter-of-factly, holding out a plastic bag. “Share it with your friends.” 

“Is that King Pudding?!” Souta asked, eyes wide. The first time Soushi had brought pudding for Souta, it’d been specially made by the chefs in the main mansion. The boy had taken one bite of it and made a face, saying that he much preferred King Pudding. Soushi still didn’t understand why, but he’d started bringing King Pudding instead anyway. “Grandpa’s the best!” 

“Share with me too, Souta,” Tamaki called out, walking down with Souta’s bag in hand. He nodded to his in-laws. “Morning, mama, papa.” 

“Good morning, Tamaki-kun,” Mirei replied, giving Tamaki a quick hug. 

Soushi offered Tamaki a curt nod in greeting. “You can afford your own snacks.” 

Tamaki held back a sigh. “I was kidding,” he said. Then, raising a curious brow, he asked, “What’re you guys doing here, anyway? I thought we told you not to come today?” 

“You really thought I was going to miss seeing my grandson off for his first day of school?” 

“It was either this or going directly to the kindergarten,” Mirei said, smiling apologetically at the couple. “Well, we got to see Souta-chan already, so it’s time we get going. If we delay them any longer, they might be late in getting to the kindergarten. Let's go, Soushi-san.” 

With a sigh, Soushi nodded. “Fine. Have a good first day at school, Souta. Wait, let’s take a picture.” 

“Okay!” the boy chirped, posing with his grandparents. Satomi took the picture for them and sent it to both Soushi and Mirei. “Bye grandpa and grandma!” 

“And don’t forget...” 

“Dinner at the main mansion on Sunday, right? We got it already,” Tamaki said. “Souta, don’t forget to tell Satomicchi that you’re leaving. She's going to be lonely without you at home.” 

Souta nodded quickly and ran over to the maid, who’d been waiting by the door. “Bye-bye, Micchan!” 

“I’ll be looking forward to your stories tonight, Souta-sama.” 

“I’m done!” Souta declared, going back to Sougo and tugging on his hand. “Let’s go, let’s go!” 

\--- 

The situation at the Nanase home was, considerably, much worse than it was at the Yotsubas’ – it wasn’t just both sets of grandparents who were crowding the house, but both pairs of uncles as well. 

Iori had foreseen this, and they’d gotten the twins ready half an hour before they had to leave. He and Riku had even gone as far as to take pictures last night to save time in the morning, but their brothers and parents had spent nearly twenty minutes taking pictures. They were now, unfortunately, debating over whose bento the twins should bring; it didn’t seem to matter that _Iori_ had already made bentos for both his kids. 

“Of all the things I forgot to tell them...” Iori sighed, shaking his head. “We’re going to be late.” 

Riku chuckled. “I think I know how to get them to stop,” he whispered, earning a raised brow from his mate. “It might end up being more troublesome in the long run though. No promises there.” 

“Whatever works,” Iori conceded. “Akane-chan and Aoi-chan are looking kind of troubled. I really don’t want them to end up crying because of this.” 

“Okay,” Riku replied, clearing his throat. “I have a suggestion. How about Iori and I handle the bentos for this week, and from next week onwards, we can come up with a schedule of sorts. That way, everyone gets to make bentos for the twins once a week.” 

Gaku looked over at Riku in mild disbelief. “This is going to be a weekly thing now?” 

His question promptly earned him a jab in the side. “That works, I suppose,” Tenn agreed. “Also, I don’t remember forcing you to come with me today, Gaku. You could’ve stayed home to sleep in.” 

“As if. If I did that, you’d get angry at me later,” the elder pointed out dryly. 

“Anyway!” Nagi cut in, also wanting to leave already. “Now that that’s settled, you should get going!” 

Akane looked over at Iori. “Are we going now?” she asked, having long ago lost track of the time after being passed around for pictures. When Iori nodded, she exclaimed, “Yay! Finally!” 

The twins quickly said their goodbyes to their grandparents and uncles. After Yosuke and Kaito herded everyone out of the house, Iori heaved a soft sigh of relief. “Alright, it’s time for us to get going too,” Iori declared, holding his hands out. Akane and Aoi each took one hand, though they only went out to the car before letting go and climbing in. 

Riku locked the house door and went over to help buckle Aoi in. When he noticed Aoi yawn, Riku laughed and asked, “Are you tired already, Aoi? We haven’t even left home yet.” 

“Photos were tiring...” Aoi mumbled in response. 

The alpha nodded in understanding, making sure the seatbelt was buckled properly. He pressed a kiss to Aoi’s forehead. “Take a nap while we drive. Akane too. We wouldn’t want you falling asleep at the start of class.” 

Akane frowned and shook her head. “I’m not sleepy, papa.” 

“If you say so,” Riku said with a shrug. He got into the driver’s seat as Iori closed the passenger side door. “You look annoyed. I guess we shouldn’t have overlooked the bento thing, huh.” 

“I got up early to make their bentos, too,” Iori grumbled, arms crossed. 

“If you look at it positively, now we only have to make their bentos once a week,” Riku pointed out. 

His words did little to assuage Iori’s annoyance, though, and Riku knew that well. He also understood why Iori was so ticked off; they appreciated that their family cared about the twins, but at the end of the day, he and Iori were the twins’ parents, not their parents nor their brothers. It was rather tiring to deal with, if Riku was being honest. 

Iori sighed again, getting Akane’s attention. “Mama’s tired? Mama should sleep too then,” Akane spoke up from the back. “Like Aoi.” 

Managing a smile, Iori turned back to look at his daughter. “I’m fine,” he told her. “You, on the other hand... are you sure you don’t want to take a quick nap in the car?” 

Pouting slightly, Akane shook her head. “I’m not sleepy,” she repeated. Beside her, Aoi had long ago dozed off. “I don’t want to sleep.” 

Iori didn’t quite believe her, because she _did_ look like she wanted to doze off too, but he only nodded in response. “Alright,” he said, chuckling at her stubbornness. “Don’t wake your brother up.” 

“I won’t! Oh, mama, Souta-chan is coming too?” 

“Yes, so you and Aoi-chan have to look out for him too,” he said. “The two of you are more familiar with the kindergarten after all. And don’t forget to introduce him to your friends from pre-kindergarten.” 

“Souta-chan went too,” Akane said, confused. 

“He only started going in January, remember?” the omega reminded. “You started last October. You have some friends from the earlier classes whom he hasn’t met yet.” 

“Oh. Okay.” 

Riku laughed at her response. “Just remember to have fun too.” 

\--- 

Tamaki nudged Sougo and nodded at the familiar car pulling up to the kindergarten. “They made it.” 

Souta looked in the direction his father indicated, his face lighting up when he saw who it was. “Kanecchi and Oichan! Rikkun-chan and Iorin-chan, too!” 

“They’re a little late, aren’t they?” Sougo asked. “Should we go over?” 

“Yeah! Mama, hurry!” 

“Relax, Souta, they’re not going anywhere,” Tamaki called out. “Don’t let go of Souchan’s hand.” 

The family of three reached the car as Iori was lifting Aoi out of his car seat, Akane already standing next to him and holding onto his shirt. When she saw the Yotsubas walking over, she started waving excitedly to them. “Souta-chan!” she exclaimed. “Hello!” 

Aoi blinked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes after being woken up by his sister. “We reached...?” 

“That’s right, and Souta-chan's already here too,” Iori said, setting Aoi down. He held onto their hands and pointed across the road, where the Yotsubas were waiting to cross the road. “Let’s move out of the way so papa can go and park the car. Ah, Sougo-san, please stay there. We'll come over.” 

They stepped aside for Riku to back the car up, then crossed the road to meet their friends. The twins bowed to Tamaki and Sougo politely in greeting. “Good morning Tama-chan and Sougo-chan!” 

Tamaki raised an amused brow at Aoi. “Did you not get enough sleep last night, Aoi?” 

Pouting indignantly, Aoi shook his head. “Aoi slept early,” he huffed, “but photos took too long.” 

“With Iorin-chan and Rikkun-chan?” Souta asked. 

Still pouting, Aoi shook his head again. “Everyone.” 

“Rie-baachan, Hiro-baachan, Kai-jiichan, Suke-jiichan, Tenn-ojichan, Mitsu-ojichan, Gaku-chan, and Nagi-chan,” Akane listed, holding her fingers out when she was done counting. “That’s eight! Right, mama?” 

“Eight people, yes,” Iori replied, smiling at his daughter. “Akane-chan’s really good at counting!” 

He turned back to his friends and shrugged. “So this morning was a bit of a disaster.” 

Sougo could only offer the younger a sympathetic smile. “It must’ve been tough getting them to leave.” 

“The worst part was when they were all trying to shove their bentos onto the twins. As if I didn’t already make them their bentos,” Iori sighed, shaking his head. “What kind of mother do they take me for?” 

At the mention of food, Souta perked up. “Grandpa gave me pudding! Lots!” he boasted, pointing to the bag that Tamaki was holding. “Kanecchi, Oichan, do you want some? He said to share.” 

Even as Akane and Aoi looked at the bag hopefully, Tamaki shook his head and said, “No can do. This is for after you eat lunch. We'll leave it with your teachers later so they can keep it in the fridge, so just ask them for it later.” 

“Okay,” Souta conceded. 

“Look at you being mature, Tamaki!” Riku commented, coming over to the small group. He weaved his way through the other families, many of whom were looking in their direction, and smiled when Aoi came over to him. As soon as he picked Aoi up, the boy was burying his face into Riku’s shoulder. “You can’t fall asleep again, Aoi. We have to get you to class now.” 

Tamaki sent Riku an unimpressed look. “I’m plenty mature, Rikkun.” 

“Yes, you are, now let’s sign the kids in before Aoi-kun really falls back asleep,” Sougo suggested. 

Iori was quick to nod in agreement, and the two families headed over to the entrance. They were greeted by one of the teachers there; it was evident that she recognised them, but she remained professional and focusing her attention on the kids. “Good morning! And who might you three be?” 

“My name is Akane!” 

“I’m Souta!” 

“And this is Aoi,” Riku said, smiling apologetically at the teacher. “He’s a little sleepy now, but he’ll be fine once we’re not here to carry him.” 

“I’m Terashima Satoko, the in-charge for this year’s Usagi class,” she introduced with a bow. She looked through the list of names for Usagi class and said, “It seems like only Nanase Aoi-kun is in Usagi class. So that means that Nanase Akane-chan and Yotsuba Souta-kun are in Hitsuji class. The two of them can sign in with Ono-sensei over there.” 

Upon hearing that he wasn’t in the same class as his sister, Aoi pulled away from Riku’s shoulder and asked, “Aoi isn’t with Ne-nee? Souta-chan and Ne-nee are different from Aoi?” 

“It seems so,” she replied. “Aoi-kun, will you come with sensei to the classroom? One of your parents can come with us too, just until you get settled in, alright? Akane-chan and Souta-kun will have to go to a different classroom.” 

As expected, Aoi promptly burst into tears and shook his head adamantly in refusal. “No! Aoi wants to be with Ne-nee! Aoi doesn’t want to be different!” he cried, effectively attracting the attention of everyone else in their vicinity. 

Akane looked at her twin with a slight frown. “I like rabbits more than sheep.” 

Souta looked between both of them. “What about Oichan’s pudding?” 

“Aoi, we talked about this,” Riku reminded patiently. “We told you that you might not be in the same class as Akane, right? You promised that you wouldn’t get upset, didn’t you?” 

“Souta-chan is different too!” Aoi wailed. “Only Aoi is alone!” 

Riku held back a frown and looked at the others – Aoi had gone back to burying his face into Riku’s shoulder and was currently staining the alpha’s shirt with his tears and snot. “Do you guys want to bring Akane and Souta to their class first? I'll stay out here with Aoi until he calms down. I’m really sorry about Aoi, Terashima-san.” 

The teacher nodded in understanding. “It’s alright, take your time,” she assured. 

“Can you take Akane to her class?” Iori asked instead. Riku raised a brow, but he nodded regardless, and the omega squatted down. He adjusted Akane’s clothes slightly and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Akane-chan can go with papa to class, right? I'll try to come by before class starts.” 

“Okay,” Akane said, not at all bothered. “Bye-bye, mama. Bye-bye, Aoi.” 

Iori took the still-crying Aoi from his alpha, a small struggle in and of itself, and waved to the others as they signed in and followed Ono in. Then he set Aoi down and knelt in front of him, wiping his tears away. “Aoi-chan, I know you’re upset that nee-chan and Souta-chan aren’t in the same class as you,” he said, making sure the remain calm. “You know, when mama first started going to school, I also thought that I could finally play with your Mitsu-ojichan. I didn’t realise that, by the time I was in kindergarten, he would already have to go to elementary school.” 

Sniffling and hiccupping, Aoi asked, “What did mama do?” 

“Oh, I cried the whole time Mitsu-ojichan was saying bye to me,” Iori chuckled. He didn’t remember it all too well, but he’d heard the story enough times to know it. “I was pretty miserable the whole first day of school and didn’t make any friends because I only wanted to play with Mitsu-ojichan. But when I finally played with the other kids, I realised that I could have fun on my own too. Besides, if you make new friends, you can introduce them to nee-chan and Souta-chan and you can all play together.” 

"But Ne-nee and Souta-chan can play together...” 

“Give me a moment.” Iori looked over at Satoko. “Terashima-san, the kids will have some free time to play outside after lunch, right?” 

“Yes, the two classes from each grade will have 20 minutes after lunchtime to play outside,” she confirmed. “The lunchtimes for the three grades will be staggered, so they won’t overlap with each other at all.” 

Iori turned back to Aoi with a smile. “See? You can still play with nee-chan and Souta-chan later. Why don’t we head to your classroom and meet your new classmates, and then you can all play together after lunchtime?” he suggested. 

“...okay...” Aoi conceded, scrunching his face up as Iori wiped his remaining tears away. 

“Can you apologise to Terashima-sensei and ask her to bring you to the classroom?” 

“Sorry sensei,” he apologised in a small voice. “Aoi will be good in class. Can we go?” 

“Of course. Aoi-kun is really polite,” she commented, chuckling softly when Aoi took Iori’s hand and stuck to his side. “I’ll lead the way. Feel free to ask me any questions on the way.” 

\--- 

After taking pictures of each one of their children in their classrooms, they went through a brief orientation by the respective teachers in charge. They went through what they’d be doing on the first day, then explained how classes would proceed from tomorrow onwards. They were also told what the kids would need to bring for the rest of the week. 

Many of the other parents kept glancing their way throughout the orientation; it was especially bad in Hitsuji class, with the members of MEZZO and IDOLiSH7’s centre garnering more attention than the teacher in charge. They felt bad despite it not being their fault, and they could only hope that the other parents did at least manage to catch the important parts of what was said. 

The four idols met up back outside the kindergarten once they were done; Riku had gone over to Aoi’s classroom and Iori had gone to Akane’s, just to check in on them and say their goodbyes for the morning. They had a group interview to get to that was due to end over an hour before the kids got out of class; they’d all made sure that they wouldn’t be late to pick the kids up even if they ran slightly overtime. 

Tamaki glanced at Riku’s shirt. “You’re going to wear that for the interview, Rikkun?” he asked. “You know we’re going to take pictures for it too. Maybe you should go home and change before coming over to the studio.” 

“It’s fine, we each brought a spare shirt in case something like this happened,” Riku told the younger with a grin. “Iori’s shirt got a little dirty, too. But our shirts aside, I’m more concerned about whether Aoi’s going to be okay alone today. He doesn’t usually have meltdowns like that.” 

Iori made a face and sighed. “It’s because he was tired from the ruckus this morning,” he said, not at all impressed with the trouble their family had indirectly caused. He was going to have a word with all of them, even their parents. “If he has another meltdown in class, Terashima-san said that they’ll give us a call and let him go home for the day. It's a good thing Banri-san's on their list of contacts.” 

“I guess we’d better get going,” Sougo said. “I’m sure Aoi-kun will be alright.” 

Nodding, Iori replied, “Yeah, I know. We'll see you at the studio then.” 

Tamaki and Sougo left first, and Iori stared at the kindergarten while Riku started the car. The alpha glanced at his mate briefly, then put a hand over Iori’s. “Relax,” he said, his voice soothing. Iori had always been much more prone to worrying about the twins, and even Riku was more worried than usual after Aoi’s little meltdown earlier. “Our kids are well-behaved, so they’ll be fine. The first day is always hard when you’re not used to being alone.” 

"It’s just been a while since Aoi-chan had a meltdown like that...” Iori sighed again. “You know he hates being alone the most.” 

“I mean, he’s hardly ever alone,” Riku reasoned, giving Iori’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “He’s in good hands, and they’ll let us know if anything happens again. The worst-case scenario is that Banri-san will have to pick him up while we’re at work. Let's go?” 

“Okay,” Iori conceded, “before I change my mind and go back in.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> update for Ban's birthday (even though he doesn't appear in this chapter lmao) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BANSAN!!
> 
> Anw this chapter got longer than I thought it would (so much for 'short stories') so I split it into two parts, it was almost gonna be 3 parts but I couldn't figure out how to end it properly if I kept going so I cut it off HAHA. The kids are 3, turning 4 in this chapter, and tbh idk much about how advanced kids can speak at this age but I didn't wanna purposely misspell everything for the sake of being realistic... like it'd probably be pretty hard to read if everything's misspelt so I tried to use simple words as much as possible ;;
> 
> Also Soushi and Mirei get an appearance //claps
> 
> The next chapter's also done but I'll up that in early Oct! Partially bc I'm starting a new job soon and will get busier, partly bc the chapter aft that, I wanna upload in Nov :') So see you guys in a mth and pls comment/leave kudos!


	5. first day (pt2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1st Apr 2026

Aoi looked around at his new classmates, some of them familiar but most of them not. Riku had come by just two minutes ago, told Aoi to do his best for the day and gave him a kiss on the cheek before going off, leaving the boy alone. 

Already he wanted to go and find his sister – while he did recognise some faces from the pre-kindergarten classes they’d attended, Akane had always been the one who talked to them first. Aoi had no problems with replying to people who talked to him, but he wasn’t the type to initiate the conversation. 

So, when one of the other kids from the pre-kindergarten classes came up to him, Aoi flashed a small smile at him. “Ao-chan!” the boy, Kenta, greeted cheerfully, taking a seat beside Aoi. “Good morning!” 

“Good morning, Ken-chan,” Aoi replied. He noticed Kenta glancing around curiously and pouted slightly at the reminder that he’d be alone for the rest of the school year. “Ne-nee isn’t here. She's in the other class. Aoi is alone today.” 

“Oh.” Kenta hummed in thought. “But I’m here! Yui-chan and Baru-chan, too! Come play with us!” 

Aoi looked over in the direction Kenta had come from. Just as he’d said, a few kids that they knew were seated at a table together. Yuika and Subaru looked back at him and Kenta with wide smiles, and Aoi nodded to Kenta. “Okay,” he said, picking up his bag and going over to the other table with Kenta. 

The last of the parents left a few minutes after Aoi changed seats, and Satoko clapped to get the kids’ attention. “Sorry for the delay,” she said, smiling brightly at the class of thirty. “Good morning!” 

“Good morning!” the class echoed. 

“I’m Terashima-sensei who’ll be in charge of Usagi class this year. Nice to meet you!” she greeted. “I’ve met most of you already, but let’s start the day off by introducing yourselves briefly so that everyone in class will know each other. When it’s your turn, just stand up and say your name and favourite animal. if you want to share more about yourself with the class, that’s okay too! We'll begin with those in the front, alright?” 

Aoi was seated near the middle of the classroom, and he waited anxiously for his turn. It wasn’t long until Kenta stood up, said his name and favourite animal, and then sat back down. Then Satoko looked at Aoi, an encouraging smile on her face. He glanced around the table, receiving similar smiles from his friends as well. Standing up while still clutching onto his cat plush, Aoi said, “I’m Nanase Aoi, I like cats and rabbits. Ne-nee also likes rabbits.” 

“Who’s Ne-nee?” someone asked. 

“...Ne-nee is Akane-neechan,” Aoi replied, fidgeting nervously, “in Hitsuji class.” 

“She’s Ao-chan's twin!” Yuika supplied helpfully. “Aka-chan’s super fun to play with!” 

“Sensei, what’s a twin?” 

“Twins are two siblings who grow in the mother’s belly together and they’re usually born on the same day,” Satoko explained. Noting Aoi’s increasing discomfort, she quickly added, “Good job, Aoi-kun! And thank you for helping him out, Yuika-chan. Who's next?” 

Sitting down, Aoi smiled gratefully at Yuika. “Thank you, Yui-chan.” 

The introductions took about another fifteen minutes to finish. Once they were done, Satoko handed out blank reward charts to everyone along with a bunch of colour pencils for each table. “Now that we’re done with our introductions, we’ll be personalising our reward charts,” she explained. “We’ll laminate them later so these reward charts will be used throughout the school year. Feel free to draw anything you want around the borders! I have some stickers with me as well, but they’ll be at my desk. Anyone who wants to use them can come and get them from me!” 

“Subaru-chan, what’re you going to draw?” Yuika asked, grabbing one of the colour pencils before staring at her reward chart in thought. She glanced at Aoi as he took one of the blue colour pencils and started on his reward chart. “Oh, Aoi-chan's starting? What're you drawing?” 

Aoi hummed in response, brows knit in concentration as he worked on what he was drawing. “Aoi is writing Aoi’s name.” 

“Ao-chan knows how to write his name?” Kenta asked. “Amazing!” 

“Only in hiragana,” Aoi clarified. 

Their table worked in relative silence for the next several minutes, each focusing on decorating their reward charts nicely. It was only a while after Aoi was done with the blue colour pencil, exchanging it for an orange one, that he noticed somebody standing beside him. He looked at the boy, only briefly knowing his face from when he’d introduced himself earlier, and asked, “Yes?” 

The boy stared at Aoi for a long second and said, “Be my friend.” 

“...why?” Aoi asked, frowning slightly. “Aoi doesn’t know you.” 

“My mama told me to,” the boy replied simply. “Because Aoi’s mama and papa are idols, she said. I'm Ren.” 

Aoi’s frown deepened. “Aoi doesn’t want to.” 

Ren returned Aoi’s frown with one of his own. “Huh? Why?” 

“Because Aoi doesn’t know you,” he repeated, “and Aoi has friends here.” 

“Mama told me to make friends with you,” Ren insisted. 

“Aoi-chan said no,” Subaru cut in. “Go away.” 

Huffing in frustration, Ren shouted, “Fine! I don’t want to be friends with you anyway!” 

He grabbed a black colour pencil and scribbled over Aoi’s reward chart, over what Aoi had spent the past several minutes drawing. He stormed back to his table afterwards, leaving Aoi and the rest of his table to stare at the destroyed reward chart. 

It was mere seconds later that Aoi burst into tears for the second time that morning. Satoko hurried over; she’d been busy helping another student, but she’d also heard Ren raising his voice. Already she was dreading having to call Riku and Iori, barely an hour after class had started. The school could be in trouble if they publicised this. “Aoi-kun, what’s wrong?” she asked, kneeling beside him and looking at the mess his reward chart had become. “Who did this to your reward chart?” 

Kenta pointed at Ren, who was currently looking over at them with wide eyes. “Him.” 

Satoko held back a sigh and focused her attention on Aoi. “What happened?” she asked. When Aoi didn’t reply her, she looked at the other three kids. “Can anyone tell sensei why Ren-kun did this to Aoi-kun's reward chart?” 

Subaru nodded. “He said he wanted to be Aoi-chan's friend. Aoi-chan said no. He got angry.” 

“Thank you, Subaru-kun,” Satoko said. She patted Aoi’s back in an attempt to get him to settle down, though it didn’t have much of an effect on him. “Alright, I’ll go and get another teacher to come in, then I’ll take Aoi-kun to the office. We'll call your parents and you can decide if you want to go home.” 

She hurried to get someone to watch the class, then she gathered Aoi’s belongings, including his ruined reward chart, and brought him to the office to contact Riku and Iori. 

\--- 

Yamato let out a low whistle when he saw Iori’s expression as he walked into the changing room. “What happened with Ichi?” he asked, looking over at Riku. The couple was the last to arrive; Tamaki and Sougo were already getting their makeup done, as were the other three members. “He looks kind of pissed off.” 

“Tamaki and Sougo-san didn’t say what happened?” Riku asked curiously. He got a sheepish smile and a shrug in response, and Riku chuckled exasperatedly at the couple. “Long story short, Aoi got really upset when we found out that he was the only one in a different class. And Iori’s upset because he’s worried about Aoi.” 

Iori looked pointedly at Mitsuki, but he didn’t say anything to the beta. “It’s fine, I’ll focus on work,” he said instead, putting his bag down and going over to one of the remaining dressing tables. His regular stylist came over to start on his makeup. Iori managed a smile. “I’ll leave it to you, Yamada-san.” 

Mitsuki hadn’t noticed the look sent his way, but Nagi had. He'd seen how things had gone that morning, so he knew exactly why Iori seemed rather annoyed at Mitsuki. It took quite a lot to make Iori angry with his brother – indirectly upsetting the twins was one of the only things that could do so. “Was he okay when you left though?” 

“He seemed fine when I checked in before leaving,” Riku replied, “so hopefully he’ll be alright for the rest of today. We already informed Banri-san though, so he’s on standby if the kindergarten calls.” 

“Kind of reminds me of when you found out that you wouldn’t be going to school with me,” Mitsuki snickered, still blissfully unaware of Iori’s foul mood. “I still vaguely remember you begging mum and dad to let you follow me to elementary school. You were so cute back then.” 

“Uh-huh.” 

Finally noticing that something was off, Mitsuki glanced at the omega. “You’re that upset?” 

Biting his tongue, because he didn’t want to accidentally say anything in the heat of the moment, Iori shook his head. The last thing he wanted was to be unintentionally rude to Mitsuki. He was angry at Tenn and their parents too, of course, but Mitsuki just had the misfortune to be the only one present. “I don’t want to talk about it now. We can talk later, after we pick the kids up.” 

"We have time before the interview, so you might as well get it off your chest now,” he continued. 

“Mitsuki, just drop it,” Nagi said, aware of the changes in Iori’s scent. “We’re at work after all.” 

“Why? It's not like we have to hide anything from the staff.” 

“Really, Mitsu, I think you should leave Ichi alone.” 

“My younger brother’s upset; don’t you think I should make sure he’s okay before we start work?” 

“Nope,” Tamaki chimed in. 

“Tamaki-kun,” Sougo chided softly, not wanting to add to the increasing tension. “Shh.” 

Iori heaved a sigh and turned to Mitsuki. “You _really_ don’t know why I’m upset, nii-san?” he asked. He received a frown and a shake of the head in response, and Iori pursed his lips. “I’m not blaming just you, because Tenn-niisan and our parents are at fault too, but Aoi-chan might not have had that big of a meltdown if he hadn’t been tired after the mini photoshoot this morning. I'm pretty peeved about the whole bento thing, too.” 

Mitsuki made a face. “He seemed pretty happy to take pictures with us,” the beta commented. “I don’t think any of us thought that it’d cause such a commotion at the kindergarten afterwards.” 

“He’s three, nii-san, and he’d only been awake for thirty minutes before you all came over. We of all people should know just how tiring it can be to wear a smile for such a long time,” Iori said dryly. “I don’t want to talk about it until after work, so just drop it al...” 

Trailing off as his phone lit up with a call, Iori glanced at the caller ID and picked up immediately. Riku raised a brow when he noticed the abrupt change in Iori’s scent, and he asked his stylist to stop for a moment. He didn’t have to ask Iori who it was – by the time he was out of his chair, Iori was already saying, “Hello? Yes, this is Nanase Iori. What? What do you mean he got into an argument with one of his classmates? Is he alright? ...no, we’re both at work now. Can you please contact Banri-san? Ah, but would it be possible for me to talk to him for a bit first?” 

Riku tapped on Iori’s shoulder and asked, “Aoi got into an argument?” 

The omega nodded, but put his finger to his lips. He quickly put the call on speaker and lowered the volume so the others wouldn’t be able to hear. “Aoi-chan, it’s mama,” he said, grimacing when he heard his son bawling, though he quietened slightly upon hearing his mother’s voice. “Papa is here too. Can you tell us what happened?” 

_“Mama... papa...”_ Aoi sobbed. _“Aoi’s reward chart... Ren-_ _chan_ _spoilt Aoi’s reward chart!”_

“Somebody bullied you?” Riku asked, his expression one of disbelief. 

_“Aoi didn’t want to be his friend, so he drew on Aoi’s reward chart...”_

Iori exchanged a look with Riku; Aoi wasn’t exactly outgoing, but he was still friendly to people who approached him. “Hang in there for a while, alright? Banri-san will come to get you,” Iori told him, unable to do anything for his son over the phone. “Mama and papa can’t go to you now, but we’ll be there as soon as we’re done with work.” 

Much to their relief, Aoi only sniffled and asked, _“Can Banchan bring colour pencils for Aoi?”_

“Of course,” Riku replied, already texting Banri to relay the request. “Before Banri-san gets there, be a good boy and listen to your sensei, okay? Mama and papa have to get back to work soon.” 

_“Okay...”_

“We’ll see you later. Can you pass the phone back to sensei?” Iori asked. He turned speaker mode off and apologised to Satoko for troubling her, then he ended the call and looked at his mate. “Today is the worst day. Ever.” 

Riku nodded in understanding, wrapping an arm around Iori’s shoulder and giving the omega a gentle squeeze. “I already told Banri-san to head over to the kindergarten. He said he’s on his way out of the office now.” 

“Is everything alright?” Sougo asked in concern. 

Iori’s reply was a curt, “No.” 

“Iori, I’m sorry about this morning,” Mitsuki apologised. 

He received a sigh in response. “Apologise to Aoi-chan, not me,” Iori said. “Let’s just quickly finish work so that we can go and make sure he’s okay. Sorry for the disruption, Yamada-san.” 

\--- 

“-again, I’m not calling you by name in the office, _President,”_ Banri chuckled, setting down a pile of documents on Otoharu’s desk and eliciting a grimace from the beta. “I already looked through this, so you just need to sign it.” 

“And this is why you’re the best assistant,” Otoharu said, beaming at his husband. 

“And here I thought it was because of my cooking...” Banri trailed off, pulling his phone out of his pocket when he heard the message tone go off multiple times in succession. A quick glance at the messages was enough to wipe the smile off his face immediately. “Pass those documents to Okamoto-san when you’re done; I have to go and get Aoi-kun.” 

Otoharu frowned – Riku and Iori had already warned Banri beforehand that he might have to fetch Aoi from the kindergarten, but it’d barely been an hour since then. “What happened?” 

“I’m about to find out,” the omega sighed. He retrieved the spare set of colour pencils that they kept in Otoharu’s office for whenever the kids were there. “I’ll let you know if I’m coming over with Aoi-kun, or if I’ll stay outside with him until Riku-kun and Iori-kun finish up their schedule.” 

Waving Banri’s words off, Otoharu said, “You know you can stay with him as long as you need to. If Aoi-kun needs you to stay with him even after Riku-kun and Iori-kun end work, then so be it. I'll handle things in the office.” 

Banri nodded, even though he didn’t like using the kids as a reason to skip out on work. “I’ll see you later then,” he said, rushing out of the office with his bag and hurrying to the kindergarten. 

He got there in under ten minutes; while looking for a kindergarten, proximity to the office was one of the requirements that both couples had. They’d wanted it to be easy for any of them, Banri included, to get there if they needed to. 

By the time Banri arrived at the kindergarten, it was a little less than fifteen minutes since he’d received Riku’s messages. The receptionist looked at him with a smile as he walked in. “Good morning, how may I help you?” 

“I’m here for Nanase Aoi,” he said, glancing around for the boy. “My name’s Takanashi Banri. I'm his secondary contact.” 

“I need you to sign this pickup form, then I’ll bring you into the office,” she told him, handing said form to the omega. 

Banri signed it quickly, waiting for the lady to file the form before following her to where Aoi was waiting with another staff member. Aoi looked up from the ruined reward chart that he’d yet to let go of when he heard someone approaching and, upon seeing Banri, started crying all over again. Banri strode over to Aoi and pulled him into a hug, carefully avoiding the chart between them. “It’s okay,” he shushed, rubbing Aoi’s back comfortingly. “Banchan’s here. Can you tell Banchan what happened?” 

Aoi shook his head, finally letting go of his reward chart in favour of wrapping his arms around Banri’s neck and crying into his shoulder. Banri sighed, setting the chart aside so it wouldn’t get crumpled and looking at the staff member. “I’m sorry, but can I get a rundown of what happened?” 

“From what the other kids told us, Ren-kun asked Aoi-kun to be his friend. When Aoi-kun refused, Ren-kun got angry and scribbled all over Aoi-kun's reward chart,” he explained. “We tried asking him why he didn’t want to be friends with Ren-kun, but he wouldn’t tell us. Ren-kun didn’t want to tell us what happened either.” 

Frowning, Banri asked, “Aoi-kun, why did you tell Ren-kun that you didn’t want to be friends? Banchan and sensei aren’t going to scold you; we just want to understand why Ren-kun did something like this to your reward chart.” 

It was a few minutes of coaxing later that Aoi stopped crying enough to say, “Ren-chan said his mama told him to be friends with Aoi. Because mama and papa are idols.” 

Banri exchanged a look with the staff member. “...so his mother wanted to use her son to get closer to Riku-kun and Iori-kun?” the omega asked, pursing his lips. “It’s only the first day of school. I don’t think that’s very acceptable behaviour for a mother. Did anyone else hear Ren-kun tell you that, Aoi-kun?” 

Aoi nodded against Banri’s shoulder. “Ken-chan, Baru-chan, and Yui-chan.” 

“Thank you, Aoi-kun,” Banri said, pressing a quick kiss to the side of Aoi’s head. He raised a brow at the staff member, earning a nod in understanding from the man. “How about we get a new reward chart from sensei and you can work on it at home? Does that sound good?” 

“Don’t want to go home... Ne-nee is still at school and Souta-chan has pudding to share.” 

“The office?” Banri tried. 

Aoi shook his head again. 

Banri hummed in thought. “Well, we can’t stay in school for so long. What if we find a cafe nearby here? We can work on your reward chart, then play outside until lunch,” he suggested. “You still have your bento, right? Ah, is it okay if he comes back to eat lunch here? Or maybe just play with his sister and Souta-kun after lunchtime?” 

“We usually recommend that the parents bring the child home for the day, let them have some time to calm down,” he replied. “Just for the first day, since they’re still adjusting to the changes. But since Aoi-kun's sister is here as well, it should be fine to bring him back for playtime after lunch. It might be better for him to eat lunch outside first though, in case anything comes up with Ren-kun again.” 

“I understand. Let’s go then, Aoi-kun,” Banri said, carrying him and picking his reward chart up. “Can I have a new piece of this? And his parents will probably be the ones bringing him back later, but I’ll try to explain the situation to them beforehand. I do hope that you will speak to Ren-kun's mother later.” 

“Of course. See you later, Aoi-kun,” the staff member said, handing a fresh reward chart to Banri. 

The two left the kindergarten, and Banri spent the next few minutes walking around the neighbourhood in a bid to find a nice cafe to pass the time. Aoi asked to be put down after a while, holding onto Banri’s hand as they continued their hunt for a cafe. 

They eventually found one not too far from a playground, and Banri ordered an iced chocolate for Aoi before they started on his new reward chart. 

\--- 

As soon as they were done thanking the various staff for their work, Riku and Iori were heading back to the changing room to grab their belongings and go off. Tamaki and Sougo caught the couple just as they were leaving, and Tamaki said, “We’ll meet you guys at the kindergarten.” 

Riku smiled at them and nodded. “We’re just going to meet Banri-san to take Aoi off his hands first. There's still plenty of time before Akane and Souta are dismissed, so you guys can take your time.” 

“You’re not going to remove your makeup?” Sougo asked. Iori shook his head quickly, and the elder nodded in understanding. “Alright. Good work today.” 

“If nii-san mentions anything about coming to the kindergarten, tell him not to,” Iori said, still unhappy with the trouble their family had caused. 

He went on ahead before the others got back to the changing room, and Riku hurried to follow after his omega. He grabbed onto Iori’s hand and gave him a look when Iori turned back to shoot a mild glare at him. “Calm down and slow down,” he said. “Aoi’s alright. How about you send a text to Banri-san and ask him where they are now?” 

Sighing, Iori replied, “Fine. And you can stop with the calming pheromones, Riku.” 

“I won’t stop until you’re calm,” Riku countered with a simple smile. “Come on, just match my pace at least. Running to the car isn’t going to get you anywhere.” 

“You know, I hate you sometimes,” Iori huffed in annoyance. He’d always been the more level-headed one, though that’d changed considerably while he was pregnant. For the most part, Iori was still calmer than Riku, but that didn’t apply when their children came into the picture. “You have no delicacy.” 

“No, you don’t, and yes, I do,” Riku chuckled. 

Iori rolled his eyes, but gave up on arguing and texted Banri with his free hand. It took a while for the older omega to reply, but his reply did come with a picture of him and Aoi at a playground. “They’re near a Café 365, apparently,” Iori said, relieved that Aoi was smiling in the photo. He looked it up quickly. “It’s just three streets over from the kindergarten. I guess we could find somewhere to park between there and the kindergarten.” 

Riku shook his head and started the car. “I’ll drop you off first.” 

“You don’t need to do that,” Iori sighed, leaning against the alpha. “I know you’re worried about him too. I'm sorry I’ve been freaking out the whole morning, but it’s just hard to see the twins upset.” 

“I don’t mind,” Riku assured. “I also wouldn’t mind a kiss as a reward.” 

Chuckling, Iori pressed his lips to Riku’s jaw. “Is that good enough?” 

The alpha hummed in thought. “Well, you finally laughed for the first time today, so I’ll take it.” 

The drive to a suitable carpark took a half hour, and then the couple spent several minutes walking to the playground. 

When they got there, Aoi was playing in the sandbox with Banri squatting next to him. Aoi looked up when he heard footsteps approaching, abandoning the pile of sand he’d gathered when he saw his parents approaching. “Mama! Papa!” he called out, immediately running to them and throwing his arms around Iori’s leg. “Aoi was waiting for you.” 

Iori bent down to pick his son up, and Riku ruffled his son’s hair before going to talk to Banri. “Sorry we took so long. Did you have fun playing with Banchan?” 

Aoi smiled toothily and nodded. “Banchan let Aoi drink chocolate and eat marshmallows,” he said, scrunching his face up when Iori wiped at his still-reddened eyes. “Sorry, mama.” 

Raising a brow, the omega asked, “What for?” 

“Aoi said Aoi will be good in class...” he muttered with a pout. “But Aoi cried.” 

“You don’t have to apologise for that, silly,” Iori said, giving Aoi a reassuring smile. “How about you show your reward chart to mama and papa?” 

Nodding, Aoi said, “Down please.” 

Iori set Aoi back down, taking his hand and letting the three-year-old lead him to where Banri and Riku were talking. They looked over when Iori and Aoi came over, and Iori raised a brow at the slight frown Riku was wearing. “Banchan, Aoi wants his reward charts,” Aoi requested, holding his hands out. When Banri handed him only the newer one, he shook his head. “The other one too.” 

“Alright...” Banri conceded, warily passing the ruined reward chart to Aoi. He certainly didn’t want to cause Aoi to have a meltdown for the third time in one morning. 

Both Iori and Riku frowned at the scribbles across the original reward chart. Riku squatted down and took it from Aoi, somehow managing to make out what Aoi had originally drawn after looking at it for a few moments. “Did you write your name, Aoi?” Riku asked, smiling proudly. “When did you get so good at writing?” 

“Aoi practiced lots!” he announced just as proudly. Then his face fell again. “But Ren-chan...” 

“Ren-chan’s the one who drew on your reward chart, right?” Iori asked. Aoi nodded sadly in response, though he at least wasn’t crying. “Do you know why he suddenly drew on your chart? You told mama just now that it was because you didn’t want to be friends with him, right?” 

Aoi nodded again. “You know, mama, he said that he wanted to be Aoi’s friend. When Aoi asked him why, he said that his mama told him to be friends with Aoi, because papa and mama are idols.” 

“Banri-san also asked the teacher, and Aoi’s friends who witnessed it told them the same thing,” Riku chimed in with a slight grimace. “But you did a really good job telling him what you felt. You shouldn’t do something that you don’t want to, right?” 

“Yeah, papa taught me to say no.” 

“And you did such a great job on the reward chart, too!” Riku continued, looking at the newer reward chart. He handed it to Iori so the omega could look at it properly as well. “Did Banri-san help you?” 

From the side, Banri shook his head. “Not at all, unless handing colour pencils to him counts as help.” 

“We’re sorry for troubling you, Banri-san,” Iori apologised. “If you need to head back to the office, I think we’ll be alright here.” 

“Banchan isn’t staying to play?” 

“Actually, Otoharu-san told me to take as long as I want,” Banri replied, “so if Aoi-kun wants me to stay and play, I don’t mind. We haven’t had lunch yet though, so maybe I’ll go get something for all of us while you guys stay here with Aoi-kun. He can start on his bento first.” 

“I’ll go with you,” Iori offered. “Aoi-chan can stay here with papa and eat your bento.” 

Riku grinned when Aoi nodded, and the two of them went to get Aoi’s bento while Iori went off with Banri to get lunch for the adults. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT life's just been busy and I'm so lazy to type after getting home and showering...
> 
> Aoi was not very ok but it's all good bc he's a good boy and Banchan was there to accompany him <3 also Iori is (understandably) pissed off at everyone who contributed to Aoi having a bad day and is gonna scold all of them lmao
> 
> I was working on the pt3 of this (why did it become so long??) but I got a bit of writer's block so the next chapter will be a separate short story!! And it'll unfortunately be updated in a mth!!! Sorry for the long wait once more!!!!!!
> 
> p.s. instead of working on this I ended up writing a very random rikuio oneshot abt 3wks ago, do check it out~!


	6. birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11th Nov 2026

“Shimooka-chan!” 

“Momo-kun! Good work today,” the veteran emcee responded, grinning at the younger as he walked over. “And happy birthday! How old are you this year? 35?” 

Momo grimaced and shook his head. “I’m not that young, Shimooka-chan. Momo-chan's 37 now.” 

“I’m already past 50, Momo-kun,” Shimooka chuckled. “You’ll always be young in my eyes. How's Yuki-kun planning to celebrate your birthday with you this year? Actually, why’re you still here? Shouldn't you be going to meet him?” 

Clearing his throat, Momo managed a smile. “He went to talk with a producer about using our new song for the next broadcast while waiting for me to get off work. We're heading to Shizuoka for a short onsen trip right after he’s done!” the beta exclaimed excitedly. “It’s been a while since we’ve gone on a trip together, so I’ve really been looking forward to it.” 

"An onsen trip, huh? That sounds nice. It's been a while since I’ve gone on a trip with my family, too.” 

“How’re the kids? Shizue-chan's taking her entrance exams soon, right? What about Shizuma-chan?” 

“Shizuma’s been job-hunting, actually,” Shimooka informed. “We’ve been thinking about going on a trip next year during Golden Week, if he gets a stable job by then. With the kids grown up and moving out, my wife’s been a little lonely at home. It'd be good for her to get out for a bit and spend some quality time with them. What about you and Yuki-kun?” 

Momo raised a brow. “What about us?” he parroted, confused. 

“You two really aren’t intending to have kids?” 

A look of understanding came across his face, then Momo shook his head. “We decided we’d be fine without adopting,” he explained. It wasn’t the first time he was having this conversation with Shimooka; he’d gone to the elder a few years ago to ask for advice regarding the issue; Momo had always, and would always, feel guilty that he wasn’t able to let Yuki become a father, regardless of how many times the alpha assured him that it was fine. “I mean, I enjoy playing with the twins and Souta, but we both agree that we probably wouldn’t make good parents.” 

Shimooka nodded. “I understand. Anyway, you’re going to have to go out for a drink with me after you’re back from your trip! It'll be on me!” 

_“If_ we get to go on our trip,” Yuki corrected, coming over to where the two were conversing. “It’s nice to see you as always, Shimooka-san. I know you were still talking to Momo, but it’s about time we get going,” he added, shooting his husband a knowing look. 

“What do you mean _if?_ Of course we’re going!” Momo retorted quickly. He offered Shimooka an apologetic smile and tugged on Yuki’s arm. “I’ll see you after we’re back, Shimooka-chan! Say hi to the kids and your wife for me!” 

He hurried away with Yuki as Shimooka waved to them, pulling his husband out of the building before frowning at him. “We’re going on this trip,” he repeated sternly, though his face twisted into a grimace as he tried to suppress a cough. “I mean it, Yuki.” 

Yuki’s unimpressed stare didn’t falter. “So you admit you have a fever? And maybe a cough too?” 

“No,” Momo replied adamantly. “I’m perfectly fine, and we’re going to celebrate my birthday.” 

Heaving a sigh, Yuki shrugged. “Alright, but if you end up bedridden for the trip, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said pointedly. He could see through Momo’s façade easily enough – they'd been married for nearly ten years, so it was the least he should be able to do. It’d also been easy to tell from the way Momo had avoided him in the morning and made up a lousy excuse to leave the house earlier than he needed to. 

He _also_ knew that he was going to cave when Momo started to feel worse and would most likely end up taking care of the beta throughout the trip. He didn’t particularly mind, and he’d already packed some medicine with him before leaving the house, but he didn’t quite like being two hours away from their regular doctor. 

Still, it was Momo’s birthday, and Momo was evidently well enough to continue being stubborn. With any luck, he’d recover within the day. 

Judging by how Momo leaned his weight against him as they walked to the car, though, Yuki was rather certain that they wouldn’t be so lucky. _It’s going to be a long trip._

\--- 

Yuki sighed and stopped by the roadside, pulling the bag of medicines he’d packed earlier that morning out from the glove compartment and handing it to Momo. They were only half an hour into the two-hour long drive, but Momo had asked Yuki to pull over because he was feeling nauseated. The beta hardly ever got carsick, so it was obvious that his condition was getting worse. 

“Are you having a headache?” Yuki guessed. Momo huffed and nodded defeatedly, cracking one eye open when Yuki pushed a few pills into his hand. “We should at least try to bring your fever down, then maybe you won’t feel like throwing up as much. Do you need cough syrup too? It sounds like you do.” 

“...yes please,” Momo said, downing the pills before opening his mouth for Yuki to feed him the spoonful of cough syrup. “Geh. Tastes like shit.” 

“We could be home now,” Yuki pointed out, “and I could give you something sweet to eat after drinking the cough syrup. But you insisted on going on the trip. There's nothing I can do.” 

Momo made a face and lay back against the headrest. “You could stop nagging.” 

“I just don’t like seeing you in discomfort, Momo,” Yuki said, pushing Momo’s bangs aside to feel his forehead. He grimaced when Momo coughed for nearly half a minute straight. “Seems like your fever’s getting higher, too. Maybe we should head home after all.” 

“No! I can rest at the resort, so let’s just go.” 

Sighing again, the alpha asked, “Can you at least tell me why you’re being so adamant about this?” 

“Because, if we go home and Okarin finds out I’m sick, he’ll make you bring me to the doctor and keep him updated on my condition. Then he’ll come by to check on me even if we tell him not to, and you’ll end up talking about work. The whole point of this holiday is to get away from work.” 

Yuki raised a brow. “Are you sure that’s it?” 

“You’re also going to do the housework while I’m resting which, again, defeats the purpose of taking a few days off to relax. Besides, chances are that I’ll recover by the last day. Even if I don’t, I don’t mind spending three days snuggling together in bed with you. You've been busy filming for the past month; I really want you to have a break and for us to spend time together.” 

“And we won’t be able to take a few days off like this until May next year, right?” Yuki finished, earning a tired nod from the beta. Filming for the movie that Yuki was currently casted in was due to end in March, but Re:vale still had other schedules lined up until the end of April. Yuki could hardly blame his husband for wanting to spend time together when they’d both been so busy. “Alright, it’s your birthday so I won’t fight you on this. But you’re not going into the onsen until your fever fully subsides, okay?” 

Momo nodded again. “Yes sir.” 

They stayed parked by the roadside for another ten minutes. Once Momo fell asleep, Yuki started the car again. He spent the rest of the drive in silence, the only sounds being from Momo when he coughed in his sleep. 

\--- 

When Momo next woke up, Yuki was carrying him into the resort. Or, at least, he was struggling to. “I slept the entire way?” Momo asked, grimacing at how scratchy his throat was. Yuki grunted and nodded in response, and Momo couldn’t help cracking a small smile. “You can put me down, Yuki.” 

“You’re sick, so I have the responsibility to carry you to our room,” the alpha said with some difficulty. 

Rolling his eyes, Momo said, “If you drop me, I’m going to be sick _and_ injured. Put me down.” 

Yuki gave Momo an unimpressed look, but he set the beta down regardless. He wrapped an arm around Momo’s waist and pulled Momo to him, supporting most of his weight as they made their way to the room. When Momo glanced at him curiously, Yuki explained, “I already checked in and brought our luggage to the room before going back for you. We'll order room service for dinner.” 

Momo nodded, letting Yuki lead the way to their room. 

The first thing Yuki did, once he’d closed the door behind them, was to hand Momo a bottle of water and tell him to finish it. He flipped through the room service menu in the meantime, asking Momo what he wanted to eat and noting it down. 

After he was done placing their orders, he went to sit beside Momo on the futon, smiling when the beta shifted to use Yuki’s lap as a pillow. He moved so that he was leaning against the wall, making it easier for Momo to lay on his lap. “You can sleep for a bit more if you want,” he said. “I’ll wake you up when the food gets here.” 

“It’s fine,” Momo replied, pulling away slightly to cough. “I slept plenty.” 

“You’re also plenty sick,” Yuki reminded, pulling the blanket up to just under Momo’s chin. “I can’t believe no one in the studio noticed you were sick the entire morning and afternoon.” 

“It’s always like that though,” the beta grumbled. “I can almost always hide the fact that I’m sick from everyone but you. Sometimes Okarin notices too.” 

Yuki chuckled and ran his fingers through Momo’s hair. “I’m observant.” 

Momo snorted, then proceeded to launch into a coughing fit which lasted for a full minute. “I think you should stop talking for now, Momo,” Yuki commented before Momo could reply to his previous statement. Momo frowned and opened his mouth to speak regardless, only for Yuki to frown and shake his head disapprovingly. “I’m not going to reply even if you talk.” 

“Yuki’s so stingy,” Momo huffed, burying his face into Yuki’s stomach and wrapping his arms around his husband’s waist. “Stingy Yuki. And you’re not observant at all when it comes to people other than me. Remember that one time Okarin was pale as a sheet and you didn’t even notice?” 

True to his word, Yuki kept silent, not even offering a hum in response. Momo let out another annoyed huff, tightening his grip on Yuki’s waist and pouting. He knew that constantly talking wasn’t going to help his cough, but he already felt bad that he was sick when they were supposed to be enjoying their time off together. 

Yuki always had a tendency to stress over Momo’s health if he got mildly ill. It wasn’t something that happened very often, which was exactly why the alpha always freaked out whenever it _did_ happen. Momo appreciated the attention, but Yuki also had a tendency to go too far and prevent Momo from doing anything that could possibly aggravate his condition. 

Sighing softly, Momo glanced up briefly. “Can you sing to me, at least?” he asked, knowing fully well that Yuki wouldn’t be able to say no. Expectedly, the alpha caved and nodded. Momo grinned, satisfied, and made himself comfortable again. “Thanks.” 

By the time their dinner was brought to the room, Momo had fallen asleep again. 

\--- 

Momo was considerably better the next morning, to Yuki’s surprise, but he was still sick enough that the alpha decided to stay in the room for the day. Momo wasn’t particularly happy, but he at least managed to strike a deal with Yuki. “We’ll only go out in the evening if your fever’s completely subsided,” Yuki repeated sternly. 

“I got it already,” Momo replied with a groan. “Can we at least have breakfast in the dining room?” 

Yuki shook his head simply. “I’ll bring food up; you stay here and rest.” 

“I told you, I’m fi-!” Momo protested, breaking off to cough. That only led to Yuki giving him a raise of the brow, as if saying _I told you so,_ and the beta pouted. “Fine, go and get food and leave your poor sick husband alone. I'm not going to die from going downstairs.” 

“Maybe so, but I’m not going to feed you in a dining room with other people.” 

“Are you embarrassed to be seen feeding me?” Momo asked, his tone now teasing. “Darling, everyone who knows who we are would know that we’re married. We do it on TV all the time, too!” 

“So it’s fine if people hear me fussing over you, post it online, and Okarin sees?” Yuki asked. 

Momo pursed his lips and flopped back down onto the bed. “You don’t play fair, darling.” 

Chuckling, because he’d clearly won this round, Yuki pressed a kiss to Momo’s cheek. “Be a good boy and wait for me here. I'll bring all your favourite foods up, then we can spend the afternoon snuggling while watching TV, okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Momo said, waving his husband off. “Don’t treat me like a kid.” 

Yuki shrugged, choosing not to respond, and grabbed the room key before going to get breakfast for them both. 

Momo took the opportunity to go and wash up, taking his time as he brushed his teeth and washed his face. He contemplated taking a quick shower, but he didn’t think Yuki would take too long and he didn’t want to make his husband wait, so he went back to lie down on the futon once he was done washing up. 

The next several minutes, he spent replying birthday wishes from yesterday that he’d missed. After falling asleep while Yuki sang to him, he’d only woken up once to eat and go to the toilet. Yuki had, of course, made sure that Momo took his medicine before he went to bed for the night, and Momo wasn’t entirely sure if he’d imagined Yuki humming _happy birthday_ as he fell asleep for the nth time that day. 

When Momo finished checking all his notifications, he glanced at the door and frowned. “He didn’t get lost, did he?” he pondered, wondering what was taking Yuki so long. “Did he get mobbed by fans?” 

He weighed his options before getting up with a sigh; Yuki would probably be worried to see Momo out of the room, but Momo was equally worried about why Yuki was taking such a long time. While he was grabbing his jacket, though, a knock sounded on the door. “Who is it?” Momo asked, certain that he’d seen Yuki bring the key with him. 

“Open the door for me, Momo,” Yuki called out. “My hands are full.” 

“Why’d you bring the key then...” Momo mumbled, going to let the alpha in. 

He opened the door and stared blankly at the sight that greeted him – Yuki stood with a serving cart, a small cake sitting atop it with a lit candle. Yuki abruptly started singing _happy birthday,_ a little too quickly, and Momo felt a smile tug at his lips when he noticed the faintest of blushes dusting the alpha’s cheeks. “Thank you, Yuki,” he said, once Yuki was done, and quickly looked around before pressing a kiss to Yuki’s lips. Then he blew the candle out and pulled the cart into the room. “Come back in before someone notices you.” 

Not needing to be told twice, Yuki followed Momo into their room and locked the door behind him. “I’m surprised nobody stopped me on my way up,” the alpha admitted, heaving a sigh of relief. “Happy birthday again, Momo. We didn’t get to have the cake yesterday, but better late than never.” 

“When did you even get a cake?” Momo asked, sitting down and watching Yuki retrieve cutlery from the small kitchenette. “You didn’t bring it yesterday, did you? I don’t think the frosting could survive a two-hour car ride.” 

“Of course not. I ordered it beforehand and had it delivered here yesterday. It was supposed to be brought out after we had dinner, but,” Yuki shrugged. “We can eat it after breakfast." 

Momo nodded and pushed the empty chair out with his feet, eliciting an amused smile from his husband. “Thanks, Momo,” he said. He placed the plates of food on the table and sat down, then he pulled out a small present, seemingly out of nowhere, and slid it to Momo. “I didn’t get to give this to you yesterday, either.” 

“I thought you paying for this holiday was my present,” Momo said. “Can I open it now?” 

“Go ahead.” 

Momo tore the wrapping paper off, tilting his head slightly at the thin case inside. He opened it and gaped at its contents, eventually directing his gaze to a smiling Yuki. “How’d you know there was a game coming up?” he asked, holding the soccer match tickets up. “I don’t remember telling you about it.” 

Yuki clicked his tongue. “It’s sad that you think so little of me, Momo,” he sighed, shaking his head sadly. “My husband’s two favourite teams are having a match for the first time in a while; you really think I wouldn’t have found out about it elsewhere? Anyway, I talked to Okarin and made sure he didn’t arrange any schedules for you that day. I have filming so I can’t go with you, but you can bring Mitsuki-kun or Ryuunosuke-kun with you.” 

“You’re the best!” Momo exclaimed, scrambling out of the chair to give Yuki a hug. “I love you!” 

“And you were complaining about how stingy I was, last night,” Yuki reminded, earning a scowl from the beta. “I’m kidding; I’m glad you like it. Enjoy yourself and tell me all about it when you get home. I might not understand all of it, but I’ll listen. Come on, I’ll feed you.” 

Beaming, Momo nodded and hurried to sit back down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMO!! slightly shorter chapter than usual bc I'm... biased oops sorry @revale. I still love you guys though <3
> 
> See you guys again in a couple weeks! Kudos and comments are always appreciated~


	7. coming out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> July 2017

The members of TRIGGER bowed and took their leave, Anesagi turning to follow behind them as well. 

She was stopped by Sousuke just before she stepped out of the room. “What is it, President?” 

“Close the door. I have something I want to ask you.” 

Frowning, Anesagi told the trio, “Go on ahead. I'll meet you boys downstairs later.” 

She closed the door and turned back to look at her boss. He always looked serious, but more so than usual today, and the beta struggled to think of anything that could’ve upset him. “What did you want to ask?” she asked, not beating around the bush. “Was it something that the boys couldn’t hear?” 

Sousuke furrowed his brows as well, completely ignoring Anesagi’s question. This only served to worry the beta further; for as long as she’d been working at Yaotome Productions, she’d never thought of her boss as someone who’d beat around the bush. He’d never cared about coming off as harsh or direct, either, so he didn’t bother mincing his words. The fact that he didn’t seem to know how to broach the topic was concerning, to say the least. 

After a long minute, Sousuke sighed. “Do you have any idea why Gaku and Tenn smell like each other?” 

Somehow, Anesagi was able to maintain her composure. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” 

“Gaku and Tenn smell like each other,” Sousuke repeated. “Do you know why?” 

It was times like these that made Anesagi glad to be a beta. If she was anything but a beta, she wouldn’t be able to lie her way through this, because she’d definitely know what Sousuke was talking about. Even now, the members of TRIGGER didn’t use scent neutralisers. “President, while I don’t understand why you’re asking this, surely you know that I can’t smell their scents,” she said. “Besides, there’s no reason for them to smell like each other simply because they’re living together, right? Ryuu would smell like them too, if that was the case.” 

She realised her mistake right after the words left her lips, and Anesagi winced inwardly as Sousuke narrowed his eyes. She might as well have told him that the two were a couple. “Indeed,” the alpha agreed. “That’s all. You may go.” 

“See you later then, President,” Anesagi said, hurrying out of the office to the car. 

The members of TRIGGER looked at Anesagi as she slammed the door shut, looking rather frazzled considering they hadn’t even gone to their first schedule yet. Ryuu opened his mouth to ask her if she was alright but was cut off immediately. “You two,” she said sharply, pointing to Gaku and Tenn. “If I get fired any time soon, it’ll be on your heads.” 

Gaku gave the beta a look of incredulity. “My old man wants to fire you? Why?” 

“What exactly did the President say to you, Anesagi-san?” Tenn asked. 

Heaving a sigh, Anesagi replied, “He asked why you and Gaku smell like each other. Now, while I was and am alright with you two being together, you should know better than to go around like this. What kind of manager lets her talents, in the same group no less, date each other? I'll be lucky if I can still continue making a living in this industry.” 

Gaku and Tenn both wore similar expressions of disbelief, and Tenn’s cheeks were beginning to flush. “He asked you why we smell like each other?” Tenn repeated, as if he’d heard wrongly the first time. He grimaced when Anesagi pursed her lips, unimpressed, and nodded. “But... Ryuu didn’t say anything this morning when we were eating breakfast...” 

Beside Tenn, Ryuu was also starting to turn red. “W-what was I supposed to say?!” he questioned. “I wasn’t going to just ask if you two did... that, last night! Besides, I know it was your one-year anniversary, and I even helped Gaku with the groceries so he could make dinner for you!” 

Tenn groaned in embarrassment, burying his face in his hands and dropping his head on Gaku’s shoulder. “This is your fault,” he mumbled, even though he’d been more than a willing party last night. 

“Sure it is,” Gaku deadpanned, not bothering to argue with Tenn. The younger wasn’t great at dealing with embarrassment and this was just one of the many ways he coped. Besides, Tenn wasn’t wrong; it _had_ been Gaku who’d initiated things in the bedroom. “I’ll talk to him later, I guess.” 

“Are you going to come clean?” Anesagi asked, raising a brow. “If you’re not, then you’d be better off not going to him. It's only going to lead to more questions that I don’t want to answer.” 

Gaku glanced at Tenn briefly. He knew that Tenn didn’t want to risk Kujo finding out, and that it was best that Sousuke didn’t know about their relationship as well. “But there has to be something I can do,” he said. “I’m not about to let him fire you. Maybe I can tell him that we were just fooling around, that I had one too many beers-” 

“We’ll tell him. Together,” Tenn said, cutting Gaku off. When Gaku turned to look at Tenn, clearly surprised, Tenn put his hand over Gaku’s and offered him a small smile. “I know I’m the one who wanted to keep our relationship under wraps, and that hasn’t been fair to you. Do you remember what you told me, near the end of our first date?” 

Nodding, Gaku replied, “Of course. What you just said sounds a lot like what you said last year, too.” 

Tenn rolled his eyes. _“_ _When the day comes that our relationship is more important than the fear of letting my dad or Kujo-san find out, then we’ll come clean with them,”_ he recalled aloud. “I think we’ve been hiding for pretty long, and President probably knows what’s going on already. I don’t want you to have to lie about our relationship.” 

Gaku frowned slightly at his boyfriend. “You’re really sure about this? What about Kujo-san?” 

“One step at a time,” Tenn said. “We’ll go to him after we tell President and get his approval.” 

“What if he doesn’t approve?” Ryuu asked worriedly. “We’re not going to disband, are we?” 

Anesagi shook her head. “Disbanding TRIGGER isn’t going to break Gaku and Tenn up, is it? Besides, I don’t think your fans will take very kindly to news of TRIGGER disbanding, even if the company also reveals that you two have been dating for the past year. And above all that, President Yaotome is still Gaku’s father. He wouldn’t be that cruel.” 

Tenn nodded in agreement, giving Gaku’s hand a light squeeze. “We’re in this together, and we’re not breaking up or disbanding even if President is against us being together,” he said firmly. His unwavering confidence made Gaku smile; even now, he couldn’t help being charmed by the younger. “I’ll go with you to talk to him after our schedules today. Ryuu can come with us too.” 

“Of course I’ll go! I'll back you two up!” 

“That’s great and all, but...” Anesagi raised a brow. “You two apparently still smell like each other, and we have a few schedules to get to. What're we supposed to do about that?” 

“We could all use scent neutralisers for today,” Tenn suggested. “All three of us. If anyone asks, we could just tell them that we’re trying it out. Anesagi-san, could we trouble you to go and buy a bottle of it for us?” 

“Do I have a choice?” the beta asked with a sigh. “Alright, buckle up so we can go.” 

\--- 

One way or another, the trio managed to get through the rest of the day without any mishaps. 

They'd run into Re:vale while heading back to their changing room after a recording, and while Momo had greeted them with his usual cheerfulness, Yuki had looked at them knowingly. “Huh,” the alpha had commented, “I think this is the first time since we’ve known you guys that you’re using scent neutralisers.” 

If it’d been anyone else asking, Gaku would’ve had used the same lie that they’d been telling everyone for the entire day. It was only because it was Re:vale that Gaku had offered Yuki a sheepish smile. “Well... there were some extenuating circumstances...” 

Yuki had chuckled. “It’s not like using scent neutralisers is wrong,” he said, sounding amused. “And I can guess what the circumstances were. It's nice to see that things between you two are going well, though I can only imagine how lonely Ryuunosuke-kun is, with you all living under the same roof.” 

Momo had caught on easily and smiled teasingly at the couple. “If you need any advice, Yuki and I are always here to help!” he offered. “And Ryuu, you’re always welcome to hang out with me if you need to get out of the house for a while. I'll make time for you!” 

“Even if you have plans with me?” Yuki had asked, feigning hurt. 

“Are you jealous, darling?” 

The TRIGGER members had excused themselves after that; they didn’t need to be caught in the couple’s flirting. 

Anesagi glanced at the trio as she drove back to the office. “Have you two figured out what you’re going to tell President?” she asked, knowing fully well how hot-headed Gaku could be. It wouldn’t be strange for him to go to Sousuke’s office and simply demand that he allow them to continue dating. 

Gaku shrugged, about to reply, when Tenn jabbed him in the side. “I’ll do the talking, Gaku.” 

“I can handle talking to my old man,” Gaku pointed out with a raised brow. 

Tenn looked at his boyfriend sceptically. “Really? Remember right before our first date, when you ended up shouting at him and threatening to expose the plagiarism incident?” he asked. Gaku pursed his lips, unable to defend himself, and Tenn chuckled. “That aside, why does Ryuu look more nervous than us?” 

“I can’t help it!” 

“I’ll wait at my desk while you boys talk to the President,” Anesagi told them, stopping at the office’s drop-off and letting them get out of the car. “Let me know how it goes. Good luck.” 

Tenn grabbed Gaku’s hand before they entered the building, causing the elder to glance at him in mild surprise. Tenn’s cheeks were ever-so-slightly tinged pink. He cleared his throat, as if Gaku wouldn’t notice him blushing, and said, “What’re we waiting for?” 

They kept their hands intertwined as they headed to Sousuke’s office, garnering curious stares from staff they greeted on their way up. 

Ryuu walked behind them, a smile on his face the entre time – just as he’d been glad that the two had gotten together, he was also glad that they could finally stop hiding, even if only from one person. Regardless of the fact that Gaku didn’t have that good a relationship with Sousuke, the man was still his father. Ryuu had always thought it sad that Gaku had to hide something that made him happy from his own father. 

The couple didn’t hesitate when they finally arrived at the top floor of their office building, knocking on the door and entering before Sousuke even responded. Both he and his assistant looked over to see who’d interrupted them, and upon noticing Gaku and Tenn’s linked hands, his assistant quickly excused herself and left the room. 

Sousuke leaned back in his chair as the door closed, studying Gaku and Tenn silently for a long moment. The tension in the room was palpable; Ryuu wanted to break the silence, but he knew it wasn’t his place to speak. Gaku and Tenn were the ones who needed to talk. Ryuu was only there to provide backup if they needed it. 

In the end, it was Sousuke who said, “So that’s how it is. How long has this been going on for?” 

“As of yesterday, one year,” Tenn replied, not missing a beat. 

“Is that so. This is why you three suggested that you stay together?” 

“That’s right.” 

“What does Kujo-san have to say about this?” 

“We haven’t told him yet, but we’re intending to.” 

Nodding once, Sousuke said, “And what will you do if he is against you being in a relationship?” 

“Wait,” Gaku cut in, looking at his father incredulously. “Don’t _you_ have anything to say about this?!” 

Sousuke stared at Gaku. “What do you want me to say?” 

“I don’t know; your only son, who happens to also be the leader of the company’s biggest group, is dating the centre of said group. You're seriously okay with that?” 

“Honestly, I did consider that you were being rash,” Sousuke agreed. “I am aware of how you are. But I also know that Tenn is someone who thinks things through, and if he decided to be with you, and has been with you for one year, I see no problem.” 

“So his opinion is more important to you than mine?” Gaku questioned. He'd never been one to care much for his father’s affection, but he couldn’t deny that it did hurt, just slightly, to know that Sousuke didn’t seem to care for him at all. Gaku would rather Sousuke disapprove of the relationship than for him to be nonchalant about it. 

Tenn glanced at Gaku and squeezed his hand, offering his boyfriend a reassuring nod. He knew that Gaku did want Sousuke to approve of his life choices, the same way that Tenn sometimes wondered if his parents were happy that he was a successful idol. 

Sighing, Sousuke shook his head. “I spoke to your mother just now, to ask if she knew about this,” the older Yaotome said, causing Gaku’s brows to furrow in confusion. “I figured she’d know more than me, and I was right. She made it very clear that I wasn’t to interfere with your relationship. Besides, you two have been together for a year and your work hasn’t been affected. I trust that you’re professional enough to keep it this way.” 

“TRIGGER won’t need to disband then?” Ryuu asked, smiling sheepishly when Sousuke raised a brow at him. “Sorry, I was just worried that you’d ask them to choose between TRIGGER or their relationship...” 

“TRIGGER won’t be disbanding,” Sousuke confirmed. “But, I do hope that you two remember that your scents will linger on each other. I don’t want to care about what you get up to, but just make sure that it isn’t noticed by other people.” 

Gaku snickered when Tenn flushed slightly. “Yes.” 

“I have a new contract here for all of you to sign, to state that you’ll keep your relationship a secret unless the company allows you to go public,” Sousuke told them, sliding a stack of documents towards them. “Before that, I need you to get Kujo-san's approval. If he doesn’t approve of Tenn dating, he may very well pull Tenn out of TRIGGER.” 

“We'll talk to him,” Tenn assured. “We’ll also do our best from now on.” 

“I expect nothing less of the three of you. If that’s all, you may go.” 

The trio bowed before leaving the office, and Ryuu heaved a sigh of relief once they closed the door behind them. He turned to Gaku and Tenn, who were still holding hands, and beamed. “I guess we were worried for nothing, huh,” he chuckled, relaxing visibly. “President was surprisingly supportive.” 

Gaku pursed his lips and nodded in agreement. “I’m kind of freaked out by it.” 

“Then why did you seem so upset when it sounded like he didn’t care about you?” Tenn asked. The look he received from the elder made him both want to tease and kiss his boyfriend. It wasn’t very often that Gaku showed any vulnerability regarding his family. 

He refrained from doing either of those actions, instead tightening his grip on Gaku’s hand. “Well, I guess we should go and tell Anesagi-san the good news,” the centre said. “Then we can go home and figure out how to tackle Kujo-san.” 

\--- 

They ended up putting the matter off for nearly a whole month; Gaku wasn’t all that eager to meet Kujo properly anyway, and as it turned out, Kujo had gone overseas with Aya for the entire month of July. 

Gaku couldn’t deny that he was glad to be able to delay the meeting. He knew Tenn felt the same way, even if he didn’t voice it aloud. The younger wasn’t a fan of letting anyone down, least of all the person who took him in and paid for Riku’s medical treatments. 

Still, they did talk about how they were going to come out to Kujo and what they’d do if he did vehemently object to their relationship. Gaku had been quite surprised and extremely touched when Tenn had told him that he didn’t care if Kujo was against them being together, that he’d fight for them if it came down to that. It sounded cliched, and Tenn had been rather embarrassed after making such a declaration, but Gaku loved him all the more because of it. 

This time around, Ryuu didn’t tag along with them. There wouldn’t be anything he’d be able to do to help them out, so he was just staying home and waiting to hear from the couple. 

Gaku parked the car a distance away from the Kujo home, waiting for Tenn to get out of the car as well before locking it. “Shall we?” he asked. He received a nod in reply, Tenn hesitating only for a split second. “You’re sure he’s home, right?” 

“Yeah, I checked with Aya beforehand,” Tenn confirmed, taking a breath to steady himself. He didn’t want to have to argue with Kujo if possible – it was only thanks to Kujo that Tenn even became an idol and met Gaku, after all. The last thing he wanted to do was backstab Kujo and abandon him, the same way Zero had. 

They didn’t hold hands as they walked to the Kujo home, aware that there could be passers-by who might see them. It was just a few minutes until they were standing in front of the gates, Tenn for once feeling apprehensive to enter the house that he’d lived in for several years. 

Before either of them did anything, though, the door opened and Aya peeked out. Her face lit up when she saw Tenn alongside Gaku, and she hurried out to open the gate for them. “Tenn-niichan, Gaku-san, good morning!” she greeted. “You’re earlier than expected. Kujo-san's in his room.” 

Tenn offered his adopted sister a smile and held up a bag. “I brought some sweets for you.” 

“Thank you, Tenn-niichan!” Aya exclaimed, taking the bag with a grin. “I’ll have to share these with Haruchan!” 

“I didn’t buy it for him,” Tenn said dryly. 

“I still don’t know what you have against him,” Gaku commented. It was hardly the first time that Tenn was voicing his displeasure about Aya dating ŹOOĻ’s centre. He supposed it was just an older brother complex that he’d never understand. “But never mind that. Can we go in? It's really hot out here.” 

“Oh! Of course,” Aya replied sheepishly, hurriedly stepping aside to let the couple in. “Should I go and get Kujo-san?” 

Shaking his head, Tenn replied, “It’s alright. We'll go up to his room.” 

Aya's responding look was apprehensive. “...I’ll be in my room if you need me. All the best!” 

They remained there until they couldn’t hear the patter of Aya’s footsteps. Then Tenn grabbed Gaku’s hand and looked at the elder. “Don’t argue with Kujo-san, even if he says he’s against our relationship,” he warned, not for the first time. 

Gaku sighed. “I know already,” he replied dryly. “You’re not going to freak out on me though, right?” 

Tenn raised an incredulous brow. “Huh?” 

“I’m familiar with your scent, you know,” Gaku reminded. He moved to hold onto Tenn’s other hand as well and asked, “Should we just do this another day then?” 

“No, we’re going to settle this today,” Tenn said firmly, tightening his grip on Gaku’s hands. “I’m just afraid to disappoint him.” 

“You’re afraid to disappoint everyone,” Gaku corrected, “so you always sacrifice yourself instead. But it’s fine I guess; I’ll just have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t go too far. That also includes making sure you don’t dump me just so Kujo-san will be proud of you.” 

Managing a chuckle, Tenn nodded. “I’m not going to dump you, stupid. Come on.” 

They walked up the stairs together, fingers linked as Tenn brought his hand up to knock on the door. He didn’t get to do so before Kujo called out, “Tenn, come in. It's unlocked.” 

Gaku gave his boyfriend a look of disbelief. “That’s just scary.” 

“Yaotome Gaku, too.” 

Gaku’s jaw dropped open, and Tenn had to stifle a chuckle at his expression. He pushed the door open and offered Kujo a small bow, pulling Gaku down to do the same. 

Kujo’s gaze flicked to their interlinked hands immediately. He closed his book and put it down, then turned to give the duo his attention. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” 

“Long time no see, Kujo-san,” Tenn greeted. “We have something important to discuss with you.” 

Glancing at their hands again, Kujo said, “I can guess what it is.” 

“I know you’ve told me before to focus on my career in order to surpass Zero, and I had always been planning to do just that. But Gaku has shown me that it’s possible to be in a relationship while also working hard as an idol. Sometimes I think I work even harder _because_ he’s there to spur me on. You may not approve of me being a relationship, but-” 

“You’re right,” Kujo said, cutting Tenn off. “I don’t approve at all. I could also tell that something had changed between you two from your interactions on stage.” 

“But I’ve been doing better than ever this past year even despite being in a relationship, so-” 

“Zero didn’t become successful by engaging in things like romance,” Kujo continued. 

“That may be true, but he also ran away, didn’t he?” Gaku challenged. His comment was met with a cold gaze, Kujo looking at him with the slightest of frowns. He could tell from the pheromones in the air that Kujo was trying to get him to submit, but Gaku wasn’t about to back down so easily. “He had nobody to rely on, and he fell apart from the pressure and ran away. Tenn may be the most impressive person I’ve ever known, but that doesn’t mean he’s not susceptible to loneliness and stress. I don’t see any reason why he has to surpass Zero on his own.” 

Brows furrowing, Kujo shook his head. The atmosphere in the room became more oppressive. “We don’t know why he left.” 

Tenn shook his head as well. “I’m sorry, Kujo-san, but I can’t agree with you on this. Whatever the reason for Zero leaving was, he might have been able to deal with it better if he’d confided in someone close to him,” the younger said. He winced inwardly at Kujo’s expression; he knew Kujo’s secret, after all. “I perform best when I’m with TRIGGER, and I’m happiest when I’m with Gaku. I have no intention of ever leaving TRIGGER, and I also have no intention of breaking up with Gaku.” 

“Is that your final decision?” 

Tenn gave a resolute nod. “Yes.” 

The heavy pheromones in the air dissipated almost immediately, and Kujo picked his book back up. “It seems like nothing I say will stop you,” he said. “I’m reminded of the night when you came to me and told me to take you under my wing. Besides, I can’t deny that you’re doing well as TRIGGER’s centre. I _am_ still against you being in a relationship, but I won’t go so far as to stop it.” 

“Thank you, Kujo-san,” Tenn said, sounding incredibly relieved. That was as good a reply as he could’ve hoped for. “Then we’ll get going. I’ll drop by again next month.” 

The older Kujo nodded, already immersed in his book once more, and Tenn pulled Gaku out of the room. 

They went back downstairs and saw Aya sitting at the couch. She turned to look at them as soon as she heard them coming, springing to her feet and going over to the couple when they came into her field of sight. “How’d it go?” she asked, seeming more nervous than the couple had been. “What did Kujo-san say?” 

“Relax, Aya,” Tenn chuckled, though his shoulders were still tense. “He doesn’t approve, but he said that he also wouldn’t stop us from being together. I think it went pretty well.” 

Aya’s eyes lit up. “So it’ll be fine even if he finds out that I’m with Haruchan, right? He won’t be angry?” 

The smile fell off Tenn’s face. _“I’m_ not fine with it.” 

Gaku rolled his eyes. “I’m going to do you a favour and bring him with me now,” he said, offering Aya a wink. The action earned him a small giggle from the youngest Kujo. Tenn wasn’t too amused, but Gaku ignored his displeasure and pulled him towards the door. “Send our regards to Isumi.” 

“Gaku’s regards, not mine.” 

“Yes, yes, let’s go already.” 

They let go of each other’s hands briefly after they exited the house, just until they got to the car. After they got in and locked the doors, Tenn heaved a sigh and dropped his head on Gaku’s shoulder. The elder wrapped an arm around Tenn’s shoulders and pulled him slightly closer. “All things considered, I guess we can at least stop hiding from our families. It was probably hard for you to stand up to Kujo-san like that, huh.” 

Tenn nodded. “Yeah. But the same goes for you. Thanks, Gaku.” 

Gaku turned to press a kiss to Tenn’s forehead. “Anything for you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see!! Wow I can't believe 2020 is alr ending lmao, this year was wild af. All the best to everyone for the rest of the year~! I'm not sure if I'll have another chapter up for end Dec bc I'm still working on it, but I'll try my best ;)
> 
> I find Tenn's dislike of Haruka and Aya's (budding) relationship hilarious so I just had to. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!


	8. xmas eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 24th Dec 2026

Yuki stared at the box Momo had just set down in front of him. “I’m not wearing that.” 

“Wha- you said you’d do it this year!” Momo protested. “Gaku was the first, then Yamato, and then I did it last year. It’s your turn now! Ryuu already said he’d go next year!” 

“Darling, I said I’d wear the costume,” Yuki said, frowning at the blasphemous item in the box. “I am not wearing a fake belly. The beard is as far as I’ll go. It's not like the rest of you wore a fake belly, either.” 

“The kids are older now; they know what Santa’s supposed to look like. Do you really want to let them see a skinny Santa?” the beta asked with a pout. Yuki wasn’t wrong; they hadn’t discussed the fake belly at all. It was just something extra that Momo had bought purely because he wanted to see his husband wearing it. He also genuinely thought the kids would enjoy meeting Santa and taking pictures with him. 

Yuki pursed his lips. “You really want to make me do the day after my birthday?” 

“It’ll be memorable for sure!” 

With a dramatic sigh, Yuki picked the fake belly up and stared at it blankly. After a long moment, he heaved a sigh. “You’re lucky I love you,” he muttered, chuckling exasperatedly when Momo threw his arms around the alpha’s neck and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I’d also better get a great birthday present from you to make up for this.” 

Momo grinned. “Of course! Look forward to it! You'd better not go back on your word after getting your present though,” he warned. Yuki gave him an unimpressed look, causing Momo to laugh at his expression. “I’m kidding. I know you won’t break your promise. Just look forward to your present and our anniversary celebration!” 

Yuki's birthdays were always hard for Momo to plan for because it was also their wedding anniversary. They usually celebrated Yuki’s birthday in the afternoon and their anniversary at night, but Momo wanted this year to be extra special. Instead of planning their anniversary celebration together as they’d done the past several years, Momo had taken the liberty to plan it this time. 

After all, it was their 10th anniversary. Momo had already roped their friends in to help out; all that was left was to make sure that things went well. 

\--- 

Riku sighed and stared at his son almost defeatedly as the boy ran from him, buck naked and still slightly dripping from his bath. He had his hands full holding onto Akane so that she wouldn’t add to the mess. “Nanase Aoi, get back here so that I can dry you off and dress you!” Riku called out. 

From his position on their bed, Iori let out a snicker. “Need help?” 

“It’s fine, I can... Akane, don’t tug on my towel!” 

“Papa, be naked too!” 

Her exclamation caused Iori to burst out laughing, the omega dropping his phone onto the bed in favour of muffling his laughter. Riku directed his deadpan stare to his mate, all the while holding onto the towel wrapped around his waist so that Akane wouldn’t be able to pull it off. “It isn’t that funny, Iori.” 

“It is to me,” the younger replied, still laughing. “You’re the one who said you could handle it.” 

“Fine, I take it back. Can you help get Aoi ready? We'll be late at this rate.” 

“Aoi-chan, can you come here? Don’t run or you’ll fall,” Iori called out, waiting patiently as he heard Aoi’s footsteps getting closer to the room. He glanced at Riku as he waited, raising an amused brow when he saw that Akane was still trying to pull Riku’s towel off. “It might be easier if you just let her have your towel. It's not like we haven’t all seen each other naked.” 

“The Iori from ten years ago would’ve told me to quickly get dressed, or I’d have an attack,” Riku sighed, feigning sadness. Akane was still giggling and attempting to remove Riku’s towel, so he finally gave in and let her have it. 

Akane threw her hands up victoriously and turned to look at Aoi in the doorway. “Look, Aoi! Papa’s also naked now!” 

“Yay!” 

“Come here,” Iori said, towelling Aoi’s hair dry with practised ease. “The Iori from ten years ago was also still calling you Nanase-san and wasn’t mated to you. He also didn’t have kids to fuss over, so if you’re feeling neglected, it’s on you.” 

Riku laughed and shook his head. “It’s fine, I prefer not being fussed over. Isn’t that right, Akane?” 

Akane stared at her father in confusion. “What’s _fussed over?”_

“Hmm... it’s like when you can take care of yourself, but people think that you can’t and keep telling you what to do?” 

“Like when papa and mama make me and Aoi brush our teeth?” 

Biting back a chuckle, Riku shrugged. “Something like that. Come on, let’s go put your dress on.” 

“Where are we going?” 

“Momo-san asked us to go out with him, remember?” Iori reminded, smiling when he saw how Aoi’s hair was sticking up. “He has something special planned for Yuki-san and needs the two of you, along with Souta-chan, to help him out. He said it was a special mission just for you kids.” 

Aoi tilted his head to the side in confusion. “When?” 

“Remember when he came over with meat buns on Monday? Do you know what day today is?” 

“Monday?” 

“It’s Thursday already,” Iori corrected, an amused smile on his face. He put the towel aside and grabbed Aoi’s outfit, proceeding to help him put his clothes on. “How many days ago was Monday?” 

“One?” 

Iori glanced over at their daughter. “What about Akane-chan?” 

“Two yesterdays ago?” she guessed. 

“I know the answer, Iori-sensei!” Riku exclaimed, raising a hand excitedly. “It’s three days!” 

“Three days is correct,” Iori announced. “As a reward, you’ve earned yourself a kiss on the cheek.” 

“Wha- just the cheek?” Riku asked. “Not fair!” 

“And because Akane-chan and Aoi-chan tried their best, you two get kisses from me too.” 

Riku’s jaw dropped. “Then my reward isn’t even special! That's mean, Iori.” 

The omega hummed in thought. “If today goes well, I could consider giving you a little extra something for Christmas,” he decided eventually, offering his mate a coy smile. “Do your best to keep the twins behaved, Riku.” 

Mirroring the smile, Riku said, “That’s more like it!” 

\--- 

“...Taa-kun, I don’t like this.” 

Tamaki stared at his son blankly. “You told Momorin you’d wear it, didn’t you?” 

Souta pouted. “But I don’t like it.” 

“Then why’d you tell Momorin that you liked it?” 

“I didn’t!” 

“Okay, timeout,” Sougo said, cutting in before Souta started throwing a tantrum. Tamaki liked to tease Souta, which wasn’t a problem in itself, but sometimes he had the tendency to go too far. He didn’t need Souta to start crying right before they had to leave. “You don’t have to wear it now, Souta-kun. I just need you to wear it for a few minutes later. Can you do that?” 

The boy shook his head. He went over to Sougo, hugging the omega’s leg and looking up at his mother. “I don’t want to.” 

“Then I won’t force you to wear it,” the omega allowed, “but we’ll bring it along just in case.” 

Beaming at his successful negotiation, Souta held his hands out. “Up, mama.” 

Tamaki tucked the bowtie in his pocket as Sougo scooped their son up. “Then let’s go,” he said. 

They left the house and made their way to meet their friends; Sougo sat in the back with Souta to keep him entertained as Tamaki drove. He also checked in with the others and let them know that they were on the way. Unsurprisingly, everyone apart from the Nanase family were already helping to set up. 

The Yotsubas arrived before the Nanases, and they went over to look for Mitsuki who’d been put in charge for the day. “Do you need us to do anything, Mitsuki-san?” Sougo asked, seating Souta on a chair. He glanced at his mate. “Tamaki-kun, what’re you doing?” 

“Yamasan wants me to help move these stands,” he grumbled. 

“It’s because you’re strong,” Yamato countered. 

Mitsuki laughed and looked back at Sougo and Souta. “You two can just wait here. We're almost done, and Iori says they’re reaching soon. I thought Souta was supposed to wear a bowtie, though?” 

“He was, but apparently he doesn’t like it anymore,” Sougo explained with a shrug. 

Raising a brow, Mitsuki squatted down and looked Souta in the eye. “Really? Momo-san told me that both Souta and Aoi would be wearing bowties. They looked really cute in the photos he sent last week, too! You really don’t want to wear it, Souta?” 

Souta pouted and shook his head. “Don’t like it.” 

“But Aoi will be wearing it,” Mitsuki added, knowing that Souta liked to mirror the twins, particularly Aoi. It was extremely endearing, and also extremely convenient for times like these. “Don’t you want to match him?” 

“...Oichan is? And Kanecchi?” 

“Akane’s wearing a dress, so she won’t have a bowtie,” the beta explained. 

Lips still jutted out, Souta turned to Sougo. “Mama, bowtie?” 

The omega produced said bowtie seemingly out of nowhere, smiling widely as he put it on for Souta. “I think Aoi-kun will be really happy to see that you’re wearing a bowtie just like him,” Sougo commented once he was done. “You’re so handsome!” 

Souta beamed. “Really?!” 

“Of course!” 

“Mikki-chan, am I handsome?” 

“Yeah, super!” Mitsuki agreed, ruffling Souta’s hair affectionately. “Well, I’d better look everything over again to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Can you check if Iori and the others are here yet?” 

Sougo pointed at the entrance where the family of four was entering. “No need.” 

“Oichan! Kanecchi!” 

Chuckling as Souta bolted towards his friends, Sougo called out, “No running!” 

\--- 

Yuki sighed, turning towards the window even though he was currently wearing a makeshift blindfold. “Is it really necessary to wear this?” he asked, for the fourth time that morning. “Where’re we going, anyway? Feels like we’ve been driving for a while.” 

“Stop complaining, darling,” Momo chided, keeping his eyes on the road. While he wasn’t exactly worried that Yuki would dislike what he’d planned, he _was_ mildly concerned about whether he’d be able to execute his plan properly. “It’s not the first time we’ve blindfolded each other for surprises.” 

“Sure,” the alpha conceded, “but it isn’t exactly common either. You even made me wear a tux.” 

“I wanted you to look handsome!” 

“...and yet you’re also making me wear a fake belly and beard for the kids tomorrow.” 

“You’re so whiny today,” Momo laughed. “Besides, we’re almost there. Do you need me to put on some music to distract you?” 

With a shrug, Yuki replied, “Why not?” 

Momo bit on his lip nervously and grabbed his phone, scrolling through his music library until he found the song he was looking for. This was the first time he was letting anyone hear it; in hindsight, perhaps he should’ve at least run it by Banri before today. _Too late for that now,_ he thought, hitting _play._

The first notes of the song were extremely familiar to them both – Yuki had opened his mouth, about to ask Momo why he’d put _Sennen Saki_ _mo_ _Zutto_ on, when a voice not his own began singing. It took less than a second for Yuki to recognise the voice as his husband’s, and a second to realise that while the tune of the song was the same, the lyrics were completely different. 

He remained deadly silent while the song played, and Momo snuck a few glances at Yuki as he drove. It wasn't easy to read the alpha’s expression; he could only hope that he’d done a good enough job conveying his feelings through the lyrics he’d written. 

Yuki felt the car come to a stop shortly before the song ended, but he listened to the rest of the song before removing his blindfold. He looked over at Momo immediately, lips curving into a gentle, loving smile and closing the distance between them. When they separated, Momo asked, “How was it?” 

“It was beautiful. I love you so much,” Yuki said, leaning in to kiss the beta again. He didn’t need to say much more than that, and Momo didn’t need him to; the love reflected in his eyes and voice said everything for him. “So, where are we?” 

Looking around, Yuki noted that they were parked in front of a church. He blinked at it, then turned back to look at Momo. “A church? Last I checked, we’re not Christian.” 

“I mean, it’s your birthday, but it’s also our 10th anniversary...” Momo started, wringing his fingers together. He toyed with the ring on his left hand briefly. “We never did have a proper wedding.” 

His smile widening, Yuki asked, “I get to marry you again, then?” 

Momo felt the tension seep out of his shoulders. “You’ll do it?” 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Yuki replied. “I always did wonder if we got married in too much of a rush. I’m happy that we can get wedded properly, even if it’s ten years later. Who'll wed us? Douglas-san?” 

“Actually, Nagi volunteered. It’s nothing official, but it’s cool to have a prince wed us,” Momo said with a laugh. He took Yuki’s left hand and slid the alpha’s ring off, earning a confused look from Yuki. “I’m going to head in for a bit,” he said, pressing a kiss to Yuki’s cheek. “Be right back!” 

He hurried off into the church, leaving Yuki to stand outside alone. He stared blankly in the direction his husband had gone, guessing that they were doing the entire ceremony properly, ring exchange and vows included. He didn’t have any idea what he was going to say for his vows; he could only hope that he’d be able to come up with something touching on the spot. 

It was barely two minutes later that Momo returned, a grin on his face as he went back up to Yuki and hooked their arms together. “Ready?” 

Yuki shrugged. “If you’re okay with my vows being impromptu, then yes.” 

“That’s fine! Alright, in we go!” 

Momo was all smiles as he pushed the door open, and Yuki opened the other side as they entered the church. Banri, seated at the piano, flashed them a smile before he began playing the traditional wedding march. Nagi stood behind the podium, and the kids in front of it. 

Souta’s face lit up when the couple walked in, excitedly running over to them despite Sougo telling him not to. The omega sighed in defeat as his son ran, face first, into Yuki’s leg. Beside him, Iori hurried to stop his kids from contributing to the chaos. “Yukirin-chan!” Souta exclaimed. He'd already extended the same greeting to Momo minutes ago. “Hello!” 

“Hello, Souta-kun,” Yuki greeted. He noted the ring box in Souta’s grasp. “Aren’t you handsome today?” 

“Do you want to walk with us?” Momo offered, exchanging a chuckle with Yuki when Souta nodded and slotted himself between them. The couple ended up unlinking their arms in favour of holding Souta’s hand, and together the three walked down the aisle. Sougo offered them an apologetic smile as they walked past him, and Tamaki couldn’t help laughing at the haughty look on their son’s face. 

The twins, too, were quick to pounce on Yuki and Momo when they finally reached the end of the aisle – Iori gave up on holding them back and opted to return to his seat. “All of you are dressed so well today,” Yuki praised, eliciting wide smiles from both Akane and Aoi. 

“I have flowers!” Akane declared, letting go of Momo’s leg and going over to the basket of flower petals she’d been given. She proceeded to grab a handful and clumsily toss them at the couple, inadvertently also getting some petals on her younger brother who scrunched his face up in mild annoyance. 

Nagi cleared his throat, knowing that if Aoi started getting fussy, the ceremony would drag on forever. “I think it’s about time we get started!” he announced, getting everyone else’s attention. “We are gathered here today to witness the blessed matrimony of Mr. Orikasa Yukito and Mr. Orikasa Momose. Shall we start with the exchanging of vows?” 

“Wow, just right into it, huh,” Momo laughed, turning to look at Yuki. He held the alpha’s hands in his, a smile adorning his face as he spoke. “Yuki, darling, the love of my life, sometimes I still can’t believe we’ve been married for ten years. When I first saw you on stage, all those years ago, I never imagined that I would be able to perform beside you, much less spend the rest of my life with you. We've been through so much together, and I’m sure we’ll face more challenges in the future, but I’m confident that we can deal with any problems as long as we’re with each other. Will you do me the honour of marrying me again?” 

Smiling through the tears, Yuki nodded. “I’ll marry you as many times as you want,” he replied easily. “I honestly don’t know where I’d be right now if you hadn’t come into my life all those years ago. I’m not perfect, and I might do things that make you upset, but I promise to make you happy for as long as we live. I love you, Momo.” 

“I love you too, Yuki,” Momo said, sniffling and wiping at his eyes. 

“...is Momo-chan sad?” Aoi asked in concern. 

“No, I’m happy! Momo-chan is super happy now!” Momo assured. “Can I have my ring, Aoi?” 

Aoi blinked, then looked at the box in his grasp as if he was seeing it for the first time. He glanced back at his parents in confusion. “Ring?” 

Riku held back an amused grin, and he wondered briefly if Iori was still breathing; the omega often had trouble keeping himself composed whenever either twin did something incredibly cute, which also happened to be most of the time. He could tell from Iori’s scent that his mate was trying his best not to run over and pull Aoi into a hug. “Yes, Aoi, give the ring to Momo-san.” 

Tamaki joined in with, “You too, Souta. Give Yukirin the ring you’re holding.” 

The boys did as told, and Momo slid Yuki’s ring onto his finger. Yuki made to do the same, pausing momentarily when he noticed an engraving on the inside of the ring. It was only upon closer inspection that he saw an _X_ carved on the side opposite of their names, and the alpha looked at Momo curiously. “When did you take my ring off to get this done?” 

Momo shrugged. “While you were asleep last night. Turns out nee-chan knows someone who was willing to help me out in the middle of the night, and I was able to get it back within the hour.” 

Yuki turned to his sister-in-law, sitting in the front with her husband, and she offered him a wink. 

“The roman numeral for 10?” Yuki guessed, putting Momo’s ring back in its rightful place. 

The beta nodded proudly. “We can add one every ten years! Smart, right?” 

Raising a brow, Yuki teased, “So we can get married once every ten years?” 

“We could, but we wouldn’t have such a cute flower girl and ringbearers next time,” Momo said with a sigh, not missing a beat. He wasn’t about to give Yuki the satisfaction of catching him off guard. “Apart from that though, I think it’s a great idea!” 

Yuki’s smile grew wider, and he looked around at their friends and family. “Everyone heard that, right? If Momo tries to go back on his word, I need all of you to be my witnesses,” he said.

Momo rolled his eyes, throwing his arms around Yuki’s neck and pulling the alpha closer. “I wouldn’t.” 

“I know, I know,” Yuki conceded, laughing at the face Momo made. “Nagi-kun, if you would please.” 

“I was waiting for the two of you to finish,” Nagi stated dryly, clearing his throat when Mitsuki shot him a look. He was rather certain that the beta would tell him off later. “If anybody here objects to the wedding of Mr. Yuki and Mr. Momo, please speak up now.” He waited a few seconds. “Then I now pronounce you, husband and husband. You may kiss each other.” 

Not needing to be told twice, Yuki pulled Momo into a kiss. Akane squealed and covered her eyes; Aoi and Souta were quick to follow suit, their actions eliciting laughter from the adults. 

The couple broke apart after a minute or so, and by then the kids were peeking out from between their fingers. Momo noticed immediately, and he asked, “What? You guys don’t see your parents kissing?” 

The three shook their heads, and Momo turned his attention to the parents in question. “Really?” 

“Not in front of them, no,” Iori replied, trying to sound curt despite the smile he was failing to suppress. It was true that he and Riku didn’t usually kiss each other in front of the twins; or, at least, not on the lips. But the twins did also sometimes accidentally walk in on them making out. 

Sougo smiled apologetically. “Us neither.” 

“How boring,” Yuki commented, shaking his head. He bent down and said to the kids, “There’s nothing wrong with kissing the person, or people, you love. Remember that.” 

“...okay,” they agreed, sounding rather unsure. 

Standing back up, Yuki slid his hand into Momo’s and looked around at their guests. The kids had run back to their parents already, and Tenn had already gone over to fawn over his niece and nephew. Gaku was standing behind his husband, watching in a mix of amusement and exasperation as Tenn asked the twins about their morning. 

Banri was seated beside Otoharu and had evidently been ambushed by Ruri. The omega didn’t seem to mind, striking up an easy conversation with an old fan. Their husbands were less comfortable, Otoharu and Natsuki offering each other awkward smiles as Banri and Ruri conversed. Mitsuki had joined Nagi by the podium and was laughing at something the blond said. 

“Congrats on getting married again,” Yamato said, walking over with Ryuu behind him. “My old man sends his regards.” 

“Tell him I said thanks,” Yuki replied. “It’s been a while since I last saw Shizuo-san; I should pay him a visit again soon. Come with me, Momo.” 

“Sure!” 

“What’s it like to get married again?” Ryuu asked, curious. 

Yuki’s gaze flicked to Momo, and he smiled widely. “It’s amazing.” 

Momo nodded quickly in agreement. “You know what else is going to be amazing?” the beta asked, looking at his husband with a pleased grin. “Yuki’s outfit tomorrow!” 

The smile fell off Yuki’s face, and Yamato burst into laughter at the alpha’s expression. “Now _that’s_ something I’m really looking forward to!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not the xmas chapter I was expecting to write, but Merry Xmas everyone!! there'll be a continuation to this... eventually. probably a short one, but I won't be able to get it done by tmr :'D I'm also too tired to proofread and deal with the formatting now, so I'll do it later!
> 
> Happy holidays~ And also happy (belated) birthday to Yuki!!


	9. xmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25th Dec 2026

Despite the relatively late, and rather tiring, night they had, Momo jumped awake at the sound of his alarm the next morning. He turned to Yuki immediately, shaking the alpha violently to wake him up. All he got in response was an extremely annoyed grunt as Yuki threw an arm over Momo, attempting to pull the beta back down to sleep with him. 

Sighing, Momo forced his way out of his husband’s hold and tried again. “Wake up, Yuki! We have a big day ahead of us!” he singsonged, continuing to shake Yuki awake. This only earned him more groans from Yuki. “Come on, you promised! The kids are really looking forward to seeing you as Santa!” 

“I’m too tired...” Yuki grumbled, his face still buried in his pillow. “How’re you awake...” 

"Because! It’s Christmas!” 

“But last night...” 

Momo laughed, knowing that Yuki was about to talk about how late they’d made love till the night before. While it was true, and Momo _was_ still sore, he was also really looking forward to seeing Yuki wear the full Santa ensemble. He intended to take as many pictures as possible and make his own Christmas card with them next year. “Yes, last night we had sex till late and you’re tired,” Momo said. “I am too, but come on! We have to get ready to head out!” 

Yuki cracked an eye open, wincing at the sunlight. “You’re terrible, Momo. After all I did for you last night, you won’t even let me sleep in a little longer?” 

The question earned him a playful smack on the chest from Momo. “You mean all you did _to_ me?” Momo asked, laughing at the scandalised look Yuki gave him. “What? It’s true!” 

“Don’t make it sound like I raped you,” Yuki sighed. “You came so many times, too.” 

“Yes, yes, and we haven’t exactly cleaned up,” the beta pointed out. “Come on, at least shower.” 

“Can we go for another round in the shower?” 

“You just complained about how tired you are, you horny old pervert!” 

Yuki managed a chuckle, rolling over with a sigh. “Fine, let’s go and shower then. The faster we go to visit the kids, the faster I’ll be able to get out of the stupid costume, right?” 

Momo shrugged. “Probably. Or I might find you so irresistible and hot in the Santa costume that I want you to wear it while we have sex,” he said, doubling over in laughter when Yuki’s face twisted into a grimace. “Kidding! I'm not into old, fat men. But even if you gain weight as we grow old, I’ll still think you’re the most attractive man alive. My Yuki will always be the sexiest!” 

“And you say _I’m_ the perverted one.” 

\--- 

Iori woke up barely a few minutes before the twins did, and he was still enjoying the warmth of his mate’s embrace when the sound of Akane and Aoi’s footsteps approached their bedroom. “Papa! Mama! It’s Christmas!” they exclaimed in unison, flopping onto the bed and causing Riku to jolt awake in surprise. “Did Santa come?!” 

“Why don’t we go and take a look?” Iori suggested, glancing at his half-awake mate. “But first... can you two wake papa up? We should all go and check for Santa’s presents together.” 

Riku shot Iori a dirty look right before he was pounced onto by the twins. “I’m awake!” he declared loudly as Akane knelt on his stomach and pressed his cheeks between her palms. Aoi had grabbed onto Riku’s feet and were pulling on his toes in an effort to wake him up. “I’m awake already, so stop!” 

“Good morning papa!” 

“Morning to you too, Akane,” Riku greeted with a sleepy smile, holding onto his daughter and pushing himself up into a sitting position. “Aoi, what are you doing?” 

Instead of replying, Aoi simply abandoned Riku’s toes and squished himself into the space between Riku and Iori. Beaming toothily at both parents, he asked, “Papa’s awake? Check for Santa now?” 

Iori smiled back and nodded. He scooped Aoi up, his smile widening when Aoi wrapped his arms around his neck, and made to stand up. “We can check for Santa, but if there are presents, we have to wash up before opening them,” he stated strictly. “Understood?” 

“Okay!” 

“Promise?” Iori asked, pulling back slightly and holding his pinky out. Aoi pouted slightly, not quite liking to make promises, but he hooked his pinky onto Iori’s regardless. The omega glanced at Akane, raising a brow until she did the same with Riku. “Down we go.” 

The couple carried the twins down the stairs, knowing fully well that there were plenty of presents stacked neatly under their Christmas tree. Their friends and family had dropped the gifts off after the twins had gone to bed last night; Iori was just glad that neither of them had gone downstairs in the middle of the night. They did still have a gate on top of the stairs, but the twins could open it if they really wanted to. 

As expected, the moment the tiny mountain of presents came into view, both Akane and Aoi were trying to wriggle out of their parents’ holds. “So many presents!” Akane gushed, excited to find out which ones belonged to her and what they contained. “Papa, look! Santa came!” 

Riku chuckled at her excitement – it wouldn’t be long until they lost this childlike wonder. “He did, didn’t he? That's a lot of presents!” 

“Aoi wants to see!” the youngest Nanase chimed in, reaching out futilely to the presents. “Presents!” 

“Remember what you two promised?” Riku reminded, looking at the twins expectantly. “No opening presents until we wash up. Santa will take your presents away if you aren’t good children.” 

“Santa already brought presents!” Akane argued, evidently impatient when she’d already seen the presents waiting for them. “He can’t take them back!” 

Iori hummed in thought. “He can’t, but he won’t bring presents next Christmas. Do you want that?” 

“...no,” the twins replied, looking equally crestfallen. 

Holding back a sigh, because he didn’t like to be unnecessarily strict, Iori said, “We’ll brush our teeth and wash our faces quickly, and then you can open presents while papa and I make breakfast, okay?” he asked. To his relief, the twins’ faces lit up at the mention of food. “What do you two want to have?” 

“Cake!” 

“Cookies!” 

“We can eat the log cake Mitsuki brought over last night,” Riku whispered. “They’ll love it.” 

“Do we have cookies?” Iori asked. “I’m not about to bake cookies at 6.30am.” 

“I sure hope we do.” 

Fifteen minutes later, the twins raced downstairs to the pile of presents under their tree. “Mama! Is this Akane’s?” Akane asked, already holding up a gift wrapped in red wrapping paper by the time Riku and Iori reached the bottom of the stairs. “And this?!” 

“So few blue...” Aoi muttered, only now realising that most of the presents were wrapped in red or green. He pouted up at his mother. “Aoi was a bad boy?” 

Seeing his children on the verge of tears was never something Iori liked. He hurried over and knelt down beside the twins, glancing through the gifts to find one with Aoi’s name. It didn’t take too long, and he picked up the present, also wrapped in red, handing it to Aoi with a smile. “You have lots of presents too, Aoi-chan,” he said, pointing to the name written on the present. “See this kanji? Find the presents that have this kanji on it.” 

He looked over at the present Akane was holding, realising that it was actually Aoi’s as well. He took it from her, finding one that had her name written on it instead. “Akane-chan, yours are those with this kanji. Don’t just take anything that’s red, okay?” 

Akane blinked at the kanji. “What’s this kanji?” 

“It’s your name,” Iori replied, biting back a chuckle. “I’ll go and help papa with breakfast. Call me over when you’re done finding your presents so that I can make sure you didn’t take anything wrong. Don’t open them until I say it’s okay. Can you two do that?” 

“Yes mama!” 

Iori ruffled their hair gently and got up, heading to the kitchen to look for his mate. 

Riku was already heating up two cups worth of milk, rummaging through the cupboards to look for any cookies they could give the kids. He glanced up when Iori came into the kitchen, grimacing slightly and saying, “I don’t think we have cookies.” 

“...I’m not baking cookies.” 

The deadpan response made Riku laugh. “I’ll make a quick run to the supermarket,” he decided, shutting the cupboard doors and nodding to the milk in the pot. “I’ll leave the milk to you then. What should I get for our breakfast?” 

“Can you stop by the bakery and get yakisoba bread?” 

“Got it.” Riku pressed a kiss to Iori’s lips. “I’m heading out then. Akane, Aoi, papa’s going to go out for a bit. Behave for your mama!” 

The twins nodded and waved as Riku put his shoes on. “Bye-bye papa!” 

Iori busied himself with preparing drinks, brewing a pot of coffee for Riku and himself as well. Mitsuki had cut the log cake into slices for them already, so all Iori had to do was transfer it onto some plates. The water for the coffee had just boiled when Aoi called out, “Mama, Aoi’s done!” 

“That’s so fast!” Iori praised. “Give mama a minute, okay? I just have to make coffee.” 

“Aoi can’t open the presents yet?” 

“Not yet. I have to make sure that you didn’t accidentally take Akane-chan's presents.” 

Huffing impatiently, Aoi flopped onto his back. “Mama’s slow,” he grumbled. “Hurry up!” 

Iori frowned at his son. “That’s not nice, Aoi-chan,” he chided. “I’m preparing breakfast for everyone and papa’s out buying the cookies that you wanted. It isn’t much to ask that you wait a while.” 

“I’m done too, mama!” 

Resisting the urge to sigh, Iori repeated, “Alright, just give me a minute. I’ll be done soon.” 

Unlike Aoi, Akane simply nodded and started humming a random tune to herself. Iori paid no heed to Aoi’s sulking, not wanting to indulge the boy, and finished making his coffee. He also transferred the warm milk into cups and washed the pot before returning to the living room, looking at Aoi sternly as he sat down between the twins. “What did papa and I teach you to say when you want people to do something?” 

“...please,” Aoi replied, visibly pouting. “Open Aoi’s presents please, mama.” 

“And what do you need to say when you do something wrong or are rude to someone?” 

“...sorry mama.” 

Satisfied, Iori let the sternness fall away. “Okay, let’s take a look at these presents.” 

\--- 

By the time he woke up, Tamaki found himself alone in bed with neither mate nor son in sight. The door to their bedroom was wide open and he could smell Sougo’s happiness as, presumably, Souta was going through his Christmas presents. 

With a yawn, Tamaki dragged himself out of bed and made his way to the living room, Souta’s excited rambling getting louder as he approached his family. He passed Satomi on his way down. “Morning, Satomicchi,” the alpha greeted. “What time did Souta wake up?” 

“Good morning, Tamaki-sama. Over an hour ago, I believe.” 

“And Souchan?” 

“He was already awake when I came out,” Satomi replied, sounding sheepish. It reflected badly on her, that the master of the house was up before her. If this was the main mansion, Soushi would already have told her off. “Breakfast is ready.” 

“Thanks. Did you eat already?” 

Satomi smiled and nodded; working in the Yotsuba home was really different from working in the main mansion. “No need, Tamaki-sama. Souta-sama did mention wanting to give me something, so I’ll return to the living room after I tidy up your bedrooms.” 

“Got it.” 

After Satomi excused herself, Tamaki continued over to the living room. He stopped by the entryway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a lazy smile on his face as he watched Souta talk animatedly to Sougo about the cartoons on the wrapping paper. Sougo glanced in Tamaki’s direction, having known when his alpha had woken up, and offered him a smile. 

Souta paused mid-sentence, following Sougo’s gaze, and beamed at his father as well. “Taa-kun’s awake!” he exclaimed. “Taa-kun, look at the puppies on this present! And the trains on this!” 

Looking amused, Tamaki joined the two on the floor by the tree. “You haven’t opened anything?” 

Sougo chuckled. “He’s been looking at the different types of wrapping paper and talking about it for the past forty minutes,” the omega explained. He closed his eyes briefly as Tamaki leaned over to nuzzle his cheek, even now enjoying mundane acts of affection from the alpha. “Good morning.” 

Tamaki hummed in response before turning to raise a brow at their son. “Morning, Souta.” 

“Morning Taa-kun,” the boy responded half-heartedly. He picked up a present to show Tamaki. “This one has King Pudding!” 

“You can show them all to me later, alright?” Tamaki conceded. He scooped Souta up with ease, causing him to drop the present he was holding as he wrapped his arms around Tamaki’s neck. “After we eat.” 

Breakfast was a simple enough affair, the couple listening as Souta continued going on about all the amazing wrapping paper that he’d seen that morning. Satomi cleared the dishes quickly after they were done, joining the family in the living room once she was done. “I apologise for the wait.” 

Tamaki waved her apology off easily, wanting to remind her that she was just doing her job, but Souta was already excitedly speaking. “Let’s open presents with everybody!” he exclaimed, looking between the three adults. His previous excitement regarding the wrapping paper seemed to be all but forgotten by now. “Mama, help me!” 

Obliging, Sougo helped his son open the presents. Tamaki and Satomi didn’t have much to do, so they simply watched and reacted to Souta gushing about whatever toy or snack he got. 

By the time they were halfway through the pile of presents, it became rather apparent that Souta was looking for something specific. Instead of being excited, he seemed frustrated by what he’d received. It continued until they were left only with the small presents; at that point, Souta looked over at Satomi with tears in his eyes and asked, “Micchan, Santa didn’t get my letter?” 

Both Tamaki and Sougo turned to Satomi in confusion. “What letter?” the omega asked. He wasn’t angry, simply confused – Satomi had told them about everything Souta’d wanted, and they’d bought most of that. 

Biting on her lip, Satomi heaved a sigh and stood up. “I’ll retrieve it.” 

She was back in under a minute, and she handed a piece of paper to the couple hesitantly. “I’d been hoping that Souta-sama wouldn’t bring it up, that perhaps he might forget about it, but...” she trailed off, watching Sougo’s reaction as he read the contents of the letter. Souta had asked her to pen it a week ago, shortly after his birthday, because he’d already made a birthday wish and thought of something else he wanted only afterwards. “I didn’t want to upset you, Sougo-sama.” 

The omega didn’t reply, his heart sinking as he read the letter. He felt Tamaki’s arm slip around his waist, his mate giving him a comforting squeeze that didn’t manage to lift his mood at all. After he’d finished reading the letter, Sougo looked back at Souta. “You asked Santa for a sibling, Souta-kun?” 

Still teary-eyed, Souta nodded. “Oichan has Kanecchi, and Kanecchi has Oichan. Yuchan has an older sister and Kenchan’s mama just had a baby too,” he said, lips wobbling as he spoke. “I want one too!” 

“I’m... really sorry, Souta-kun, but mama can’t have any more children.” 

“But why not?” 

Sougo paused for a moment, unsure of how to explain something so complicated to a four-year-old. He also didn’t want to say anything that would paint Soushi in a bad light; as far as Souta was concerned, Soushi was a doting grandfather who spoiled him with toys and good food. 

Tamaki replied in his stead. “When Souchan was younger, some things happened that made it difficult for him to have children,” he explained. “It took a really long time for us to even have you. The doctors said that he probably won’t be able to get pregnant again.” 

“Is mama sick?” 

“No, not quite, but his tummy isn’t in a good enough condition for him to have a baby.” 

Souta looked at Sougo’s stomach contemplatively, and the omega wondered if he was about to be hated by his only son. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if Souta did come to hate him. After a few seconds, though, Souta put a hand to Sougo’s stomach and looked up at his mother. He sounded concerned when he asked, “Does it hurt?” 

Sougo had to blink back tears as he shook his head. “It used to, but I’m okay now,” he assured, pulling his son into a tight hug. Souta wasn’t always the most behaved, but it was times like these that Sougo felt like they were doing a good job of raising him. “Thank you for worrying about me. I love you.” 

“I love you too, mama,” Souta replied, his voice slightly muffled. He pulled away to offer Sougo a toothy smile. “I don’t need a sibling if it’s going to make mama hurt.” 

“You’re sure?” 

Souta nodded and hugged Sougo again. “Yeah.” 

\--- 

“Momo, get off me.” 

“Why?! Do you not love me anymore?” 

“Honestly? The longer I stay in this costume, the more my love for you dwindles.” 

“Wha- it’s not my fault they’re taking forever to get here!” 

“Okay, that’s enough from the both of you,” Rinto said dryly, stepping between the couple with practised ease. He looked at Tenn and asked, “Tenn-kun, do you know if they’re reaching soon? Or if they’ll reach before Yuki-kun loses it?” 

“The Nanases should be here soon,” the younger replied, “but I have no clue about the Yotsubas.” 

“That aside,” Gaku cut in, “I don’t see why Yuki-san's so upset about the Santa costume. I think it looks pretty good on you.” 

Yuki gave Gaku a withering look. “I don’t want to hear that from the No. 1 Most Desired Embrace.” 

_“Former_ No. 1 Most Desired Embrace,” Tenn corrected. He snickered when Gaku pursed his lips, amused as always when his husband was annoyed. “But I do agree that Yuki-san looks fine in that.” 

Momo gasped and clung onto his husband, half-shoving Rinto aside in the process. “Are you two hitting on my darling? As much as I love the two of you, that’s not acceptable!” 

“Nobody wants to hit on me,” Yuki deadpanned, trying to free himself from Momo’s grip. He knew the beta was kidding, and normally he wouldn’t quite mind, but he was starting to sweat in his costume despite it being early winter. He was also still tired from their bedroom activities last night. “Especially not two people who are married to each other. Momo, please get off me.” 

“Fine, grumpy Yuki,” Momo said, sticking his tongue out childishly as he let Yuki go. Knowing that the alpha was starting to get annoyed, more because he was tired than anything, Momo decided to talk to Gaku and Tenn by the side instead. 

It was only Re:vale and TRIGGER gathered at the Okazaki Productions office, excluding Anesagi. Mitsuki was helping out at Fonte Chocolat for the morning and also in charge of bringing a log cake to the Christmas party at Takanashi Productions that night. Nagi was with the beta, though he was running the front-of-house service with his parents-in-law. Yamato was with Otoharu and Banri at the office setting up said party. 

Yuki was in the midst of complaining about the Santa costume for the nth time that day, now to Ryuu who tried to console Yuki by saying that he’d be doing the same next year, when the Nanases entered the office at long last. 

Aoi spotted Gaku and Tenn immediately and made a beeline for his uncle, throwing himself at Tenn’s leg and looking up at the alpha. “Tenn-ojichan!” 

“Merry Christmas,” Tenn replied, picking Aoi up and giving him a kiss on the forehead. “I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long?” 

“He spilt water on himself as we were getting ready to leave,” Riku supplied, laughing when Aoi covered his face with his hands, “and then Akane couldn’t find her favourite sock. Singular, because she likes just the one side. She doesn’t even need socks for the shoes she’s wearing today, and yet.” 

“Ah!” Akane exclaimed suddenly, pointing at Yuki with wide eyes. She tugged urgently on Iori’s pants and continued, “Mama! It’s Santa-san!” 

Iori feigned a gasp. “Santa-san’s here? Should we go and thank him for all the presents he brought?” 

Akane nodded furiously and tugged on Iori’s hand, pulling the omega with her to meet Santa Yuki. 

Riku looked at his son. “Aoi, you don’t want to go and meet Santa-san?” 

When Aoi shook his head, Gaku asked, “Why not? Didn’t he bring presents for you?” 

“...the paper wasn’t blue. Aoi thought Ne-nee got more presents.” 

“But you and Akane sorted through the presents by looking at your names, right?” Riku asked, slightly confused. Iori had been checking the names on their presents when Riku had gotten home earlier, and the twins had received the same number of presents. Thinking back now, though, he supposed Aoi _had_ seemed a little upset. At what, Riku wasn’t sure. “I thought you liked the presents you got.” 

Nodding reluctantly, Aoi said, “Aoi likes the presents. But mama got angry at Aoi just now.” 

Not too surprised, because not many things could get Aoi down like this, Riku hummed in thought. “Did you apologise to mama properly?” he asked. Aoi nodded again and Riku gave him a smile. “And mama forgave you, right? So why’re you upset?” 

“Because Aoi was rude to mama,” Aoi said, lips jutting out in a pout. “Aoi wasn’t a good boy. Will Santa-san be angry at Aoi, papa?” 

“Of course not! You realised that you did something wrong and you said sorry. That's exactly how mama and I taught you, so Aoi is a good boy,” Riku praised, taking Aoi from Tenn into his arms. 

Tenn ruffled Aoi’s hair and gave him a small fist pump in encouragement as Riku carried him towards Yuki. Gaku winked at his nephew, eliciting a giggle from him. Then Aoi looked at Momo, his eyes widening as if noticing the beta for the first time that day, and tapped Riku on the shoulder urgently. The redhead stopped abruptly, looking at his son in confusion. “What’s wrong?” 

“Momo-chan, where’s Yuki-chan?” he asked worriedly, looking around for the alpha. “He’s not here?” 

Sighing, Momo shook his head morosely. “Yuki fell sick last night and is resting at home now.” 

“Momo-chan isn’t taking care of Yuki-chan?” 

“Nah, he told me to come and thank Santa-san for his hard work,” Momo explained. “You want to thank Santa-san too, right? Do you want to go with me?” 

Aoi beamed and nodded, reaching for Momo’s hand and grasping onto his thumb. Riku and Momo ended up walking awkwardly to Yuki together, and Iori raised an amused brow when he saw them. “I see Aoi-chan isn’t sulking anymore,” he commented. “Did Momo-san cheer you up?” 

“Papa did. Aoi came with Momo-chan because Yuki-chan isn’t here. Momo-chan will be lonely.” 

Iori barely managed to stifle a chuckle, glancing at Yuki to see that he was doing the same, even as he listened to Akane animatedly talk about her morning. 

“Oh, the Yotsubas are here,” Iori said, looking at the door. He frowned slightly when he saw the expression on Sougo’s face. “Can I trust you to take pictures?” he asked his mate. Riku nodded, and Iori gave him a peck on the cheek.” Great. Be polite to Santa-san, okay? Mama will go and talk to Sougo-san for a bit. Tamaki-san's on his way over with Souta-chan.” 

On cue, Souta exclaimed, “Oichan! Kanecchi!” 

“Don’t run,” Tamaki called out, following slowly behind his son. He stopped Iori as they passed each other by, knowing that Iori had noticed something off with Sougo, and told the omega, “Souta asked for a younger sibling and Souchan’s feeling bad about himself again.” 

“...got it. I’ll talk to him,” he assured. 

\--- 

Sougo offered Iori a weak smile when the younger approached. “Merry Christmas, Iori-kun.” 

“Merry Christmas, Sougo-san,” Iori replied, returning the smile. “How was your morning?” 

The smile fell off Sougo’s face, and he heaved a sigh. “Honestly? I don’t know how to feel.” 

“Tamaki-san told me about what Souta-chan asked for,” Iori admitted. “How’re you handling it?” 

“Not so great,” Sougo sighed, looking over at his son as he spoke to his friends. “I didn’t even know how to explain why he can’t have a younger sibling; Tamaki-kun was the one who replied. He told Souta-kun that something happened to me that made it hard for me to have children.” 

“Was he upset?” 

Smiling sadly, Sougo shook his head. “That’s the thing. I was expecting him to be, but all he asked was if my stomach was hurting me,” the elder said. “He also said that if it was going to hurt me, then he didn’t need a sibling. He’s barely four, and he’s already so considerate. I can’t help feeling like I should be a better mother.” 

Iori pulled Sougo into a tight hug and said, “I think the fact that Souta-chan is so considerate of you is proof that you’re doing a great job, Sougo-san. He wants a sibling, but he cares more about you than that. Isn't that enough?” 

“It is, but I still think that I should do more for him.” 

“You’re doing plenty,” Iori assured with a smile. “Besides, Souta-chan isn’t upset, so there’s no reason for you to be. If he still wants a sibling in the future, you guys can always consider adoption. You have nothing to worry about, and I’m sure Tamaki-san will tell you the same thing tonight. Let's enjoy Christmas with our kids today.” 

“You’re right, I should focus on spending time with Souta-kun now and making sure he has fun,” Sougo stated. He would probably continue feeling guilty about this for some time, but that was no reason to dwell on it now. “Thanks as always, Iori-kun.” 

“Mama, mama!” Souta called out, getting the attention of both omegas. Tamaki had given up on telling him not to run and simply shrugged when Sougo raised a brow at him before returning to his conversation with Ryuu. “Mama, is Santa-san Yukirin-chan? Taa-kun said he isn’t, but I think he is!” 

Sougo laughed, squatting down to talk to his son. “Why don’t you believe Taa-kun? And what did we tell you about greeting other people?” 

“Hello, Iorin-chan,” Souta greeted. “Do you think Santa-san is Yukirin-chan?” 

“Hello Souta-chan. Merry Christmas,” Iori responded. “No, I don’t think so. Yuki-san is sick, so I heard.” 

Souta stared at Yuki thoughtfully, then turned back to the two omegas. “Are you sure?” 

“Pretty sure.” 

After a few more seconds of thought, Souta shrugged the matter off. “Listen, mama! Santa-san said that I can’t have a human younger sibling, but I can have a puppy or kitty younger sibling instead!” Souta said excitedly, his eyes sparkling hopefully. “Can I? Taa-kun told me it’s okay but that I have to ask you first.” 

Sougo furrowed his brows. “A pet is a lot of work, Souta-kun. Will you play with it and walk it every day? I know we have Satomi-san, but if you want a pet, you’ll have to put in the effort to take care of it,” he said sternly. He didn’t particularly mind getting a pet, but Sougo knew how busy he and Tamaki were. They wouldn’t be able to help much with a pet, and Satomi’s main job was looking after the house and Souta. She didn’t have much time to spare, either. 

Of course, Sougo knew that his father wouldn’t hesitate to hire a nanny for whatever pet they ended up getting Souta. He also knew that they didn’t need to go that far. “Can you promise to do that?” 

Nodding furiously, Souta replied, “Yes! So I can get a kitty or puppy? Can I have both?!” 

“Just one!” 

“Aww. I’ll go ask Kanecchi and Oichan which is better!” 

The two omegas watched Souta run off to the twins. Iori heaved an exasperated sigh and said, “Great. Now the twins are going to ask me for a pet too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI GUYS I'm back with an update!! Sorry for the lateness but work has been kicking my ass (I usually get home at 9+pm and don't have much brain juice left to type ;-;) so this took pretty long to get out... Also it feels very all over the place and as usual idk how to end chapters :'D Also also kinda lazy to proofread so pls excuse any errors-
> 
> Work is probably gonna continue being like this for some time so no guarantees on when I can update, but I'm definitely still working on stuff for this fic!!!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed and see you again (hopefully soon)~!


End file.
